From 1 June 2023, the first European patents with unitary effect registered by the EPO in the 17 EU member states participating in enhanced cooperation and ratifying the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPC Agreement) by that date will enter into force.
The new Unitary Patent is based on the European patent granted by the EPO under the rules of the European Patent Convention (EPC), so nothing changes in the pre-grant phase and the same high standards of quality search and examination apply. After a European patent is granted, the patent proprietor can request unitary effect, thereby getting a European patent with unitary effect (Unitary Patent) that provides uniform patent protection in initially 17 EU Member States.
The European Patent Convention (EPC), also known as the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to which European patents are granted. The term European patent is used to refer to patents granted under the European Patent Convention.
European patent is not a unitary right, but a group of essentially independent nationally enforceable, nationally revocable patents, subject to central revocation or narrowing as a group pursuant to two types of unified, post-grant procedures: a time-limited opposition procedure, which can be initiated by any person except the patent proprietor, and limitation and revocation procedures, which can be initiated by the patent proprietor only.
A single patent application, in one language, may be filed at the European Patent Office in Munich, at its branch in The Hague, at its sub-office in Berlin, or at a national patent office of a Contracting State including Bulgaria, if the national law of the State so permits.
