European Community Patent
| European Union regulation | |
| Text adopted under the Enhanced cooperation procedure | |
| Title | 1257/2012: Implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection 1260/2012: Implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection with regard to the applicable translation arrangements |
|---|---|
| Applicability | All current EU members, except Spain and Croatia. |
| Made by | European Parliament and Council |
| Made under | of the TFEU, and Council Decision 2011/167/EU authorising enhanced cooperation. |
| Journal reference | |
| History | |
| Date made | 17 December 2012 |
| Came into force | 20 January 2013 |
| Implementation date | Applies from the date the UPC Agreement enters into force |
| Pending legislation | |
The European patent with unitary effect (EPUE), more commonly known as the unitary patent, is a new type of European patent in advanced stage of adoption which would be valid in participating member states of the European Union. Unitary effect can be registered for a European patent upon grant, replacing validation of the European patent in the individual countries concerned. The unitary effect means a single renewal fee, a single ownership, a single object of property, a single court (the Unified Patent Court) and uniform protection—which means that revocation as well as infringement proceedings are to be decided for the unitary patent as a whole rather than for each country individually. Licensing is however to remain possible for part of the unitary territory.
On 17 December 2012, agreement was reached between the European Council and European Parliament on the two EU regulations that made the unitary patent possible through enhanced cooperation at EU level. The legality of the two regulations was challenged by Spain and Italy, but all their claims were rejected by the European Court of Justice. Italy subsequently joined the unitary patent regulation in September 2015, so that all EU member states except Spain and Croatia now participate in the enhanced cooperation for a unitary patent. Unitary effect of newly granted European patents can be requested from the date when the related Unified Patent Court Agreement enters into force for the first group of ratifiers, and will extend to those participating member states for which the UPC Agreement had entered into force at the time of registration of the unitary patent. Previously granted unitary patents will not automatically get their unitary effect extended to the territory of participating states which ratify the UPC agreement at a later date.
The negotiations which resulted in the unitary patent can be traced back to various initiatives dating to the 1970s. At different times, the project, or very similar projects, have been referred to as the "European Union patent" (the name used in the EU treaties, which serve as the legal basis for EU competency), "EU patent", "Community patent", "European Community Patent", "EC patent" and "COMPAT".
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