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December 12, 2012 - IP Revolution in Europe!

After almost forty years of discussion Europe has finally arrived at the creation of a single patent protection having the same effect on the entire territory of a plurality of Europe countries. At the same time and within the same political package, a single centralized court system shall be established for deciding on infringement and validity not only of the newly created Unitary patent but also of all existing and future European patents.

The European patent system which exists since 1976 and which permits to grant European patents will now at last be achieved by a European single jurisdiction replacing the present decentralised national courts system.

The new Unitary patent will be granted by the EPO as a European patent according to the same examination and granting procedure which is provided for in the European Patent Convention. At the time of grant however only one translation of the granted patent will be required and this only during a transitional period after which no translation at all will be required to obtain the Unitary patent protection. The cost for translation will therefore be greatly reduced.