The European patent with unitary effect, also known as the unitary patent, is a European patent which benefits from unitary effect in the 17 participating member states of the European Union. Unitary effect may be requested by the proprietor within one month of grant of a European patent, replacing validation of the European patent in the individual countries concerned. Infringement and revocation proceedings are conducted before the Unified Patent Court (UPC), which decisions have a uniform effect for the unitary patent in the participating member states as a whole rather than in each country individually. The unitary patent may be only limited, transferred or revoked, or lapse, in respect of all the participating Member States. Licensing is however possible for part of the unitary territory. The unitary patent may coexist with nationally enforceable patents in the non-participating states. The unitary patent's stated aims are to make access to the patent system "easier, less costly and legally secure within the European Union" and "the creation of uniform patent protection throughout the Union".
In 2011, Mikołaj Dowgielewicz, Polish Minister for European and Economic Affairs, said: "We have our backs to the wall: one or two member states are not willing to compromise and there will not be a breakthrough before the end of our Presidency."
Romano Prodi (here on a picture taken in 2006) cited the failure to agree on a Europewide patent as a weak point of his five-year term as President of the European Commission.
In 2007, Charlie McCreevy was quoted as saying that the proposal for an EU-wide patent was stuck in the mud.
Grant procedure before the European Patent Office
The grant procedure before the European Patent Office (EPO) is an ex parte, administrative procedure, which includes the filing of a European patent application, the examination of formalities, the establishment of a search report, the publication of the application, its substantive examination, and the grant of a patent, or the refusal of the application, in accordance with the legal provisions of the European Patent Convention (EPC). The grant procedure is carried out by the EPO under the supervision of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation. The patents granted in accordance with the EPC are called European patents.
EPO headquarters in Munich