Patent law · Practice note · As of November 2026

Unitary patent: from the European patent application to the patent with unitary effect

Since 1 June 2023, a patent granted by the European Patent Office can, upon request, obtain unitary effect in currently 18 EU states – one title of protection, one renewal fee, one court. We explain the route from filing to registration, the time limits, the costs and the question of when the unitary patent (Einheitspatent) is worthwhile.

What is the unitary patent?

The unitary patent (“European patent with unitary effect”) is based on two EU Regulations from 2012 (No 1257/2012 and No 1260/2012) and the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (EPGÜ/UPCA). It is not a separate filing procedure: the basis is always a European patent application, which the European Patent Office (EPO) examines and grants under the familiar rules of the European Patent Convention. Only after grant does the proprietor decide whether the patent is to obtain unitary effect for the participating states.

The unitary patent provides uniform protection and has equal effect in all states covered. It can only be limited, transferred, revoked or lapse uniformly. As an object of property, it is treated in its entirety as a national patent of the state in which the applicant had its registered office – for companies based in Germany, therefore, like a German patent.

The route to the unitary patent – step by step

1. Define the filing strategy: first filing as a German patent application, European application or international application (PCT), use of the twelve-month priority year for subsequent filings, definition of target markets.
2. European patent application: filing with the EPO directly or as a Euro-PCT application upon entry into the European phase. The language of proceedings is German, English or French; applications in other languages are possible with a translation.
3. Search: the EPO draws up a European search report with a written opinion on patentability – an important basis for the further strategy.
4. Publication: the application is published 18 months after the filing or priority date. From this point on, provisional protection exists in accordance with national law.
5. Request for examination: the request for examination must be filed and the examination fee paid no later than six months after the mention of the publication of the search report.
6. Examination procedure: responding to the examiner’s communications, amending the claims, oral proceedings where applicable.
7. Intention to grant: with the communication under Rule 71(3) EPC, the EPO informs the applicant of the text in which it intends to grant the patent. The applicant approves the text, pays the grant fee and files translations of the claims into the other two official languages of the EPO.
8. Grant: the patent takes effect on the date of publication of the mention of the grant in the European Patent Bulletin.
9. Request for unitary effect: to be filed with the EPO within one month of that date (details below).
10. Registration: the EPO registers the unitary effect in the Register for unitary patent protection; it takes effect retroactively from the date of grant.
11. Validation in further states: for states not covered by the unitary patent – such as Spain, Poland, the United Kingdom or Switzerland – the European patent is validated nationally as before.
12. Opposition period: within nine months of grant, third parties may file an opposition with the EPO. The opposition procedure also applies to unitary patents and, alongside the revocation action before the UPC, remains a central means of attack.

The request for unitary effect in detail

• Time limit: one month after publication of the mention of the grant. The time limit cannot be extended; if it is missed through no fault of the proprietor, re-establishment of rights may at most be considered. The time limit should therefore already be planned for upon receipt of the communication under Rule 71(3) EPC.
• Requester: the patent proprietor entered in the register.
• Language: the request must be filed in the language of the proceedings.
• Requirement: the patent must have been granted with the same set of claims for all 25 EU states participating in enhanced cooperation. Different sets of claims for individual states among them preclude unitary effect.
• Translation: during the transitional period, a translation must be attached to the request (see below).
• Fees: no fees are charged for the request itself.
• Legal remedy: if the EPO rejects the request, this decision can be challenged before the Unified Patent Court.

Translations during the transitional period

During a transitional period of six years, which may be extended to a maximum of twelve years, a full translation of the patent specification must be filed with the request:

• where the language of the proceedings is German or French: a translation into English,
• where the language of the proceedings is English: a translation into any other official language of the EU.

The translation serves information purposes only and has no legal effect. Small and medium-sized enterprises, natural persons, universities, non-profit organisations and public research organisations domiciled in an EU Member State can receive compensation of EUR 500 for translation costs if the application was filed in an official EU language that is not an official language of the EPO.

Territorial scope of protection

The unitary patent covers the EU states in which the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court is in force at the time the unitary effect is registered. These are currently 18 states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden.

Important: the territorial scope is fixed upon registration. If another state joins the system later, a unitary patent already registered does not extend to it. For all other states of the European Patent Convention – within the EU, for example, Spain, Poland, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Greece or Hungary, and outside the EU, among others, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Turkey – national validation of the European patent remains necessary. The unitary patent and national validations can thus be combined into a tailored protection package.

Costs: renewal fees instead of many validations

Instead of validation and translation costs in numerous states and separate national renewal fees, the proprietor pays a single renewal fee in euros to the EPO. The fee level is based on the combined renewal fees of the four states in which European patents were most frequently validated. Under the fee schedule applicable at introduction, the fee for the second year is EUR 35 and rises to EUR 4,855 in the twentieth year; over the full term, the renewal fees add up to around EUR 35,555, and to less than EUR 5,000 in the first ten years. The EPO’s current fee schedule is decisive in each case.

• If the proprietor files a statement with the EPO that it is prepared to allow anyone to use the invention as a licensee in return for appropriate consideration (licence of right), the renewal fees falling due after receipt of the statement are reduced by 15 per cent.
• Unlike with a bundle patent, individual states cannot be dropped in order to save fees – the unitary patent can only be maintained as a whole.
• From around four to five desired states upwards, the unitary patent is generally less expensive than national validations.

Unitary patent or classic European bundle patent?

Advantages of the unitary patent

• Broad protection in 18 states at manageable cost – including in smaller markets that were previously left out for cost reasons.
• Low administrative effort: one register, one fee, no national representatives for maintenance.
• Central enforcement with one action and one injunction for all states covered.
• Easier transfer and licensing as a single object of property.

Risks and disadvantages

• Central revocation risk: a successful revocation action before the UPC eliminates protection in all 18 states at once.
• No opt-out from the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court.
• No cost savings by gradually dropping individual countries.
• Where only a few markets are relevant (for example, only Germany and France), classic validation may be less expensive.

The decision need not be made uniformly for the entire portfolio. A case-by-case assessment based on commercial importance, risk of attack and market presence makes sense – for core patents, for example, a combination of a European bundle patent with an opt-out and a parallel German application may be considered.

Combination with a German patent

As of 1 June 2023, Germany relaxed its previous prohibition of double protection (Doppelschutzverbot): a German patent can now in principle coexist with a unitary patent or a European patent subject to the jurisdiction of the UPC. For European patents that have been opted out, the prohibition of double protection continues to apply. Anyone who takes action against the same company for the same invention on the basis of several property rights must expect the objection of multiple claims (doppelte Inanspruchnahme). A parallel German application can nevertheless be a valuable fallback position – for example in the event that the unitary patent is challenged centrally.

Use in practice

The unitary patent has quickly become established: by June 2025, more than 57,000 unitary patents had already been registered. The share of European patents for which unitary effect is requested rose from 17.5 per cent in 2023 to over 25 per cent in 2024 and almost 28 per cent in the first half of 2025; among patent proprietors from EU states, it was around one third.

Our recommendations

• Check early – at the latest upon the communication under Rule 71(3) EPC – whether unitary effect should be requested, and prepare the translation.
• Define your target markets and compare the costs of the unitary patent and national validations over the expected term.
• Assess the risk of central attack: how strong is the prior art, and how important is the patent to your business?
• Consider supplementary national validations outside the UPC territory and, where appropriate, a parallel German application.
• Align your filing strategy and litigation strategy – the unitary patent is enforced and challenged exclusively before the Unified Patent Court.