When patent applications filed at the EPO are granted, patent owners can decide whether to convert that patent into a UP, covering a block of seventeen EU countries, or whether to follow the traditional "validation" route, and select individual European Patent Convention (EPC) countries in which to validate their patent. Of course, since not all EPC countries are participating in the UP system, a combination of both approaches is possible.
Principal Associate at Marks & Clerk, Susan Bradley has authored a piece published by TCT, that explores the argument for and against registering for a Unitary Patent whilst analysing the rise in UK Additive Manufacturing patenting trends in Europe, for which owners have elected to register a UP.
Although the new Unitary Patent (UP) provides protection for inventions across seventeen countries at relatively low cost, and can be centrally enforced in the Unitary Patent Court (UPC), a UP is also at risk of being centrally "revoked" or cancelled in the UPC by a competitor. Patent owners therefore need to decide whether, in their specific case, the advantages of registering their granted European Patent as a UP outweigh the potential disadvantages.
It is also important for patent owners to note that the new Unitary Patent Court additionally has default jurisdiction over all (non-unitary) European patents granted before and after 1 June 2023, where these patents have been "traditionally" validated in one of the seventeen states that have ratified the UPC.
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