The Unitary Patent

The unitary patent will have unitary effect only in those countries that are unitary patent member states at the time of registering the unitary patent.The conditions to be a unitary patent member state are the following:

  1. To participate in the enhanced cooperation for the creation of unitary patent protection at the time of application for registration of the unitary effect; and
  2. That the Agreement on the UPC is in force in the member state at the time of registration of the unitary effect.

The number of unitary patent member states will grow over time. Thus, unitary patents will differ in the territorial scope depending on the time of their registration.