European Patent Office (EPO) publishes guidelines on the European unified patent

The Unitary Patent Guidelines issued by the European Patent Office (EPO) will come into effect on April 1, 2025. The guidelines detail the application procedures for the unitary patent and provide HTML formats in the three official languages of English, German and French. (For details, please see the link: https://www.epo.org/en/legal/guide-up/2024/index.html)

The unified patent guide consists of eight chapters. Chapter 1 is a general guide that explains the legal basis of the unified patent system, the organizational structure of the unified court, and the European Patent Office's Unified Patent Protection Division (UPP) responsible for handling unified patent matters. Chapters 2 to 5 detail the unified effect request, fee regulations, reexamination, and suspension and resumption of the procedure. Although the unified effect request itself does not require the payment of official fees, the patent owner must pay the annual fee for the unified patent to the EPO, and the payment method is the same as that of the traditional European patent.

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As a company providing professional intellectual property services, Beijing Yezhima pays close attention to the unified patent guidelines. This marks a historic step forward in the field of patent protection in Europe, providing new opportunities and challenges for global companies. For companies expanding their business in Europe, the unified patent system can greatly simplify procedures and improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of legal protection in the European market.

However, as we have observed in our daily services, this system does not fully cover all European countries, and companies still need to carefully consider their own intellectual property strategies when using this system. At the same time, we recommend that applicants combine the existing traditional European patent system when planning their patents, and give full play to the complementary role of the two to achieve maximum legal protection.