Since 1 September 2024, Romania becomes the 18th EU Member State to join the Unitary Patent system, now covering Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and Romania.
It is reminded that the Unitary Patent allows applicants of granted European Patents to obtain protection in the cited countries in a single application before the European Patent Office, within 1 month from the date of publication of the grant of the European Patent.
Joining to this system means that the Court competent to decide on the infringement and validity of unitary patents, supplementary protection certificates and classic European patents is the Unified Patent Court (UPC).
The main advantages of designating a Unitary Patent and being under the Unified Patent Court are a reduction in the costs of validating European Patents, since a single translation is accepted by all the members countries, a single annual fee is paid to keep it in force in all member countries, and the designation of unitary effect will allow litigation against potential patent infringers in the different countries adhering to the system through a single lawsuit before the UPC.
In contrast, the Unitary Patent is subject to centralized Invalidation Actions before the UPC that could invalidate the patent simultaneously for each and every one of the member countries of the system; it is not possible of waiving the payment of maintenance in a single country; and the high costs of litigating before the UPC, being only English, French or German the procedural languages.
Spain is not part of this system, therefore, the validation of a European patent in Spain continues to be through the former validation route, both for national and foreign applicants; and the competent Courts to decide on the infringement and validity of the validations are the Spanish Courts.
The different patent prosecutions systems are complex, and it is recommended to have expert and professional advice. Do you have any questions? Please, contact the patent department at ABRIL Abogados.
Carlos Baños
Head of the Patent Department
