Unitary Patent

A single patent having unitary effect across all participating EU member states (not all EU member states participate). 

A unitary patent can be obtained from a European patent application by requesting unitary effect with the European Patent Office (EPO) within 1 month of the patent being granted.  Up until that point there is no difference in the procedure from a normal European patent application. 

As a result of Brexit, a unitary patent will not have effect in the UK - a European patent application will need to be separately validated in the UK to provide protection in the UK.

The advantage of the unitary patent is that it avoids the administrative burden and cost of validating and maintaining the European patent in each of the states covered by the unitary patent.  The cost of the unitary patent is positioned such that it is likely to be a more cost effective option than validating the European patent in 4 or more of the participating member states, but not when validating in fewer than that.  However, a potential downside of a unitary patent is that it can be revoked in a single action.