Unitary Patent: green light to a competitive European system

A growth boost for European businesses after more than 45 years

Europe has been working on its patent system in order to make it cost-effective and legally solid for more than 45 years. So far, companies, universities and inventors in general do not have a simple 'one-stop-shop' when seeking Europe-wide patent protection.

Once granted by the European Patent Office, a European patent can only be enforced at national level, whereby, if necessary, it must be translated into the official language of the country concerned. In addition, the patentee has to pay national validation fees and annual renewal fees.

Validating a patent for instance in 13 Member States costs €12.500 as opposed to the US where there are no such validation fees and where a patent is valid automatically throughout the whole territory. And due to annual renewal fees payable separately for each country, maintaining a European patent for ten years in only six countries is four times more expensive than in the US or Japan.

But the reduction of costs is not the only reason why we need a European patent with unitary effect, i.e. wide legal patent protection in the EU. Since patents for inventions with high market value are frequently subject to litigation, the lack of a single litigation system causes additional costs for the patent proprietor. Since infringement and validity of European patents fall under the jurisdiction of national courts, patent-holders may have to enter into litigation in multiple countries with the risk of divergent outcomes.

After years of failed attempts when Member States were unable to find unanimous agreement, the system of unitary patent protection will be built on three pillars: a Regulation establishing a European patent with unitary effect (Rapkay Report), a Regulation concerning the applicable translation arrangements (Baldassarre Report) and an Agreement on a unified patent court (Lehne Initiative Report). Thanks to Parliament, specific measures for SMEs were agreed in order to facilitate their access to the European patent market. These range from stronger legal protection to full compensation of translation costs.

"In order to reduce legal complexity and costs, businesses tend to validate European patents in only a few Member States, thus leading to a fragmentation of the Single Market. The European Patent with unitary effect will broaden patent protection to all participating Member States. This will increase business opportunities while opening up markets and contributing to the fulfilment of a true single market", explained Raffaele Baldassarre MEP.

According to Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP, "under the current system, European inventors cannot enjoy the full benefits of the Single Market when seeking patent protection. This has a negative impact on the competitiveness of the Union as innovation-related activities generate human capital that tends to be more mobile than in other areas. The new system will help make the Union a more attractive place to create and innovate, for both European and non-European inventors."