On grant, a European Patent (EP) can be validated as a bundle of national rights and where the relevant criteria are met as a unitary patent (UP) available via the EPO.

Requesting a UP, creates a single patent with unitary effect across all of the EU Member States that have ratified the UPC Agreement (R-MS). The EPO will examine the request for the UP which must be made within one month of the date of grant.

A unitary patent registered today covers 18 EU MS, including Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. It is expected that additional countries will join the unitary patent system over time. Patentees will need to validate nationally in the 22 other EPC countries that the unitary patent system does not currently cover.

To be eligible for a UP request, the EP application must grant with the same set of claims for all 25 EU MS who agreed to enhanced cooperation for unitary patent protection; they must all also be designated. [1] The request for unitary effect and required translation must be made within one month of grant of the EP. The one-month deadline is non-extendable. Refusals of a request by the EPO for grant of a UP can be appealed to the UPC.

The UP covers the territories of R-MS at the date of the registration of the unitary effect of the individual patent. Coverage of a UP is fixed throughout its lifetime and cannot be extended to EU MS that join the UPC at a later date.

The UP is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the UPC and cannot be opted-out.

Renewal fees for a UP are payable to the EPO in Euros.  Although the UP is significantly more cost-effective than a widely-validated classical EP, because the UP is a unitary right, it is not possible to reduce the annual renewal fees by tapering the R-MS territories during the lifetime of the patent.

* The table above is an extract of a table prepared by the European Patent Office and is stated to be “Based on national renewal fees as at 1 April 2026”.

The following chart compares the population, GDP and approximate cost to validate a hypothetical European patent in each of the 18 EU member states that a unitary patent can currently cover, as against the unitary patent as a region:

The above figures are based on a hypothetical patent with a 25 page specification and 15 claims filed in English.  They should not be relied on as the actual fees that a patent owner would need to pay.  Patent validation costs can vary significantly based on the patent offices concerned, the length of the patent specification, the fees of the local representatives appointed in each country and of any translators, as well as fluctuations in exchange rates.

If you would like a detailed cost estimate for EP vs UP validation, please contact your usual HGF attorney.

The chart below shows an indication of the relative cumulative costs of the same hypothetical European patent granted just before patent year 6 (i.e. with validation costs and renewal costs needing to be paid during year 6) together with the subsequent renewal costs from year 7 onwards until the patent expires. Similar to the previous chart, whilst figures in this graph should not be relied upon as a projection of what a patent owner is likely to pay.

Depending on where the EP patent is validated, the cumulative costs will vary. A UP represents a substantial cost saving over the lifetime of the patent compared to separately validated EPs in 4 or more UP countries. However, it is important to remember that as a unitary right, a UP patent must be renewed as a whole, whereas EP patents validated may be renewed, or not, separately.

These figures are shown as a guide for a specification filed in English having 15 claims. If you would like a detailed cost estimate for EP vs UP validation, please contact our UPC ready team – upcready@hgf.com.

Since its inception, over 23,100 requests for a UP have been made and over 22,500 UPs have been registered. In 2023 the uptake rate of UPs was 17.5% and thus far in 2024 it has increased to over 23%.

[1] The seven EU member states who participate in ‘enhanced cooperation’ but have not ratified or acceded to the UPC Agreement (and so are not currently covered by a unitary patent) are Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Poland and Slovakia.

Since its inception, the uptake rate of UPs has steadily increased and remains around 30% of EPs.