At the beginning of December 2012 the European Parliament and the EU Council passed the so called “patent package” which aims to simplify, streamline and reduce the price of patent protection in the European Union. It is anticipated that the first European patents with unitary effect could become operational in as early as the first quarter of 2014.

The existing practice relating to European patents is that the author of the invention applies for a European patent to the European Patent Office (EPO) and the granted European patent has the same effect in the given state as a national patent. There is a condition that the owner has the patent validated after it had been granted. This means that he submits the translation of the patent documentation into the official language of the country to the industrial property authorities and he pays the prescribed fee.

The European patent may, according to the will of the applicant, have effects in one or more or all EU states. However, it has the same effects in each individual state as a national patent. This means that the effects of a European patent differ in individual countries and this follows with the necessity to know the patent law of all individual countries.

The costs for a registration of a patent in all Member states of the EU are including the translations in the range of EUR 30,000 to 40,000. The unitary European patent should cut this cost to a tenth.

Thanks to a unitary European patent there will be no more need for a validation of the European patent in the individual states. All that will be needed is to apply to the European Patent Office for a European patent with unitary effect. This will provide the invention with protection in 25 Member States of the European Union. Italy and Spain have so far not passed the European patent with unitary effect and therefore, it will still be necessary to register patents in these countries separately.

At the same time the costs connected with the translation into the official languages of the relevant states will be deducted because all that will be needed is to submit one application to the EPO in one of the three official languages of the EU (English, French or German).

One of the main characteristics of the European patent with unitary effect is its unitary format, which means that it provides unitary protection and has the same effect in all participating Member States. The need of knowledge of the patent law in the individual countries is no longer necessary as the scope of the protection of the European patent is the same in all the states.

The European patent with unitary effect will only be optional and will exist next to the national patents and the European patent with effects in one or more states. Holders of the European patents may within one month of granting the European patent apply the EPO for an entry of unitary effect. After the entry of the unitary effect the European patent will have the same effect on all territory of the participating countries.

A part of the Patent package is also the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court. According to this Agreement the general court of first instance for solving patent disputes will sit in Paris. Specialised sector for patents in the area of general mechanics will sit in Munich and the sector for pharmaceuticals and bio-technology will sit in London. The court of appeals for patents will sit in Luxembourg.

Therefore, the unitary European patents will significantly reduce the administrative and financial costs for the protection of patents on the territory of the EU as they will terminate the need for validation in each state and the language of the relevant state. At the same time it will no longer be necessary to pay the patent fees in each individual state but they will only be paid to the EPO, which will subsequently make sure of their distribution between the individual states. And last but not least, thanks to the unitary effect the need to know the enactments of patents in the individual states will also be redundant.

Therefore the European patent with unitary effect is a welcomed institute in the field of intellectual property law, which will provide for significant time as well as financial savings.