The aim of these articles is to keep our Clients and Associates updated about developments in the sector of Intellectual Property in general and our firm in particular. In this way, we wish to provide a broader view of the tools that the field of trade marks, domain names, patents, designs and related rights offers to entrepreneurs to enhance and protect their efforts in researching and developing new solutions and ideas.
Where Are We at With the Unitary Patent?
The Unitary Patent (UP) system came into force on 1 June 2023 and since then the European Patent Office (EPO) has been receiving a significant, steadily increasing, flow of requests for unitary effect by patent proprietors wishing to benefit from this new form of protection.
The EPO have made available on their website an interactive dashboard (see https://www.epo.org/en/about-us/statistics/statistics-centre#/unitary-patent) offering an overview of the current situation with regard to the UP, providing information on several trends thereof, including, among others, the most active patentees and their countries of origin, the technology fields with the largest number of UP requests, and the preferred languages for translation.
The over 29,000 UP requests filed to date clearly indicate worldwide innovators’ strong interest in the new system, Germany and the United States being the leading countries in choosing the path of unitary effect. In this respect, Italy ranks fifth with 699 UP requests (5.6 %) filed as of 21 June 2024.
It should be noted that the uptake rate, i.e. the percentage of requests received with respect to European patents granted, in 2024 is approximately 24%.
As could be expected, the highest percentage of UP requests (over 50%) come from large enterprises − the top ones being Johnson and Johnson, Siemens AG, Samsung Group, Qualcomm, Inc., L M Ericcson AB and Volvo Group − followed by SMEs, individual inventors, universities and public research organisations.
The requests for unitary effect come from different technology areas, but the most represented are medical technology, civil engineering, measurement, transport, special machines, and digital communication, these areas together covering almost 40% of all said requests.
As far as the translation language is concerned, Spanish is the most chosen, a foreseeable choice, indeed, considering that Spain is not party to the UP system and still requires national validation, whereby the Spanish translation can be used both for requesting unitary effect and for validating the patent in Spain.
English comes second as preferred language, and this, again, is not surprising, because all European patents whose language of proceedings is French or German, must be translated into English for requesting unitary effect.
Italian is the fourth selected UP translation language, with nearly 2,000 translations.
In this respect, in a recent circular letter of ours we have explained that translation into Italian can be of particular advantage for patent proprietors who are interested in protecting their granted European patents also in the Italian-speaking Republic of San Marino, which does not adhere to the UP system.
Simultaneously with the coming into force of the Unitary Patent, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) also started operations.
As of 31 May 2024, the Court of First Instance – central and local divisions − has received a total of 373 cases.
More detailed information about the type of actions brought before the Court and the corresponding competent courts can be found at https://www.unified-patent-court.org/en/news/case-load-court-start-operation-june-2023-update-end-may-2024.
In conclusion, the UP system has been a success so far, and the number of UP requests is expected to keep on growing in the near future.
However, whether this positive trend will continue in the long run will depend on how the patent proprietors will be satisfied with the orientation of the decisions of the Unified Patent Court.
We will keep you regularly updated on the progress of the UP system and UPC decisions.