National measures relating to the Unitary Patent
This booklet provides a concise overview of the most important national measures accompanying the implementation of the Unitary Patent in the participating Member States having ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court.
The geographical scope of the Unitary Patent will eventually cover all the 25 EU Member States that have joined the enhanced cooperation in the creation of Unitary Patent protection. But to be covered by the Unitary Patent, a Member State must not only be participating in this enhanced cooperation but must also have ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA) when the Unitary Patent is registered. It is expected that at least 17 states will have done so when the new system starts.
1st edition, September 2022
With its "National measures accompanying the implementation of the Unitary Patent" booklet, the EPO aims to provide users of the Unitary Patent with an overview of the most important provisions of the relevant national law in the States participating in the Unitary Patent scheme (participating Member States). The present booklet is modelled on the EPO's successful online-booklet, "National law relating to the EPC" where the relevant information can be retrieved country by country.
Content description
The booklet is essentially an overview of the measures adopted in the States participating to the Unitary Patent for the purpose of accompanying the implementation of the Unitary Patent. The synopses given in the following tables have been prepared on the basis of the information provided by the respective participating Member States.
The tables have been drawn up with great care, but their completeness and accuracy cannot be guaranteed. They are no substitute for consulting the national legal sources themselves and seeking professional advice where appropriate. National law is regularly updated and evolves. Users of the booklet may therefore wish to consult the official publications of the participating Member States to make sure that the legal provisions summarized in the tables are still up to date. The EPO will update the online version of this booklet whenever it is informed about any changes at national level.
Available formats & updating
The most up-to-date version of the "National measures accompanying the implementation of the Unitary Patent" publication is thus the HTML file, which is optimized for online use. This HTML version is regularly updated; changes made since the edition in the printable PDF file can be viewed by checking the "Show modifications" box in the top right hand corner. Insertions are displayed with a green background and deletions in red strikethrough font. For sections in which no changes have been made, the check box is greyed out.
The PDF file contains the latest printable edition (1st edition, September 2022). This is the best version for offline browsing, including full-text search functionality.
A print version of the booklet is not available.