Stratagem IPM obtains first Unitary Patents

Stratagem IPM is pleased to announce that we have successfully obtained some of the first Unitary Patents in existence for several of our clients.  

This is exciting news because a Unitary Patent is a new type of patent right that only recently became available with the entry into force of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) on 1 June of this year.

Conventionally, if you wanted protection for your invention in a particular European member state, you had to obtain a national patent either by filing a national patent application or by validating your European Patent there once it was granted.

Now, however, you have a third option: to obtain a Unitary Patent, if desired, based on a granted European Patent. Instead of providing legal effect in only one country, a Unitary Patent provides uniform legal effect in multiple European Union member states. This does not mean that conventional routes of protection are no longer useful: they are still essential in countries that are not party to the UPCA, such as the UK, or as alternatives to a Unitary patent in member states that are party to the UPCA.

Stratagem IPM was able to open up the opportunity to obtain these Unitary Patents for our clients because they informed us of their intentions well before the grant of their European Patents, meaning we were able to ensure that the grant took place after the date of entry into force of the UPCA.

We then had systems in place to enable us to meet the short 1-month timeframe for filing a request for unitary effect and a translation of the patent once their European Patents were granted.

With these Unitary Patents, our clients now have uniform protection for their inventions in 17 European Union member states for a fraction of the cost it would have taken to validate them. In addition, each of these Unitary patents will be cheaper to maintain over its lifetime than conventional national patents in just four of those same 17 member states.

If you have any questions about the pros and cons of a Unitary Patent or would like to know more about how to obtain one, please speak with one of our patent attorneys or contact us at mail@stratagemipm.co.uk.