This app, which was designed by CASALONGA, allows the determination in advance of the amount of renewal fees to be paid to maintain a granted patent in force, with or without the Unitary patent.
It is sufficient to indicate the year of the filing of the patent application as well as the year of the grant of the patent. The list of countries where protection is sought must then be added.
The UNITARY PATENT app generates a graph showing the costs of the renewal fees, with the Unitary Patent in blue and without the Unitary Patent in orange. It allows you therefore to compare costs of maintaining a patent depending on this choice.
A movable index allows you to compare the costs for each year and to know the overall cost from the date of the grant of the patent .
It is also possible to select the year of the last payment for each country and for the Unitary patent. The app will then take any early abandonment into account for the cost calculation and comparison.
The costs indicated do not include the professional fees of specialized firms that the patentee may use to handle annual fee payments. In addition, the costs indicated correspond to payments made before the due date. They do not include the additional
amounts that must be added if payment occurs during 6 months after the due date.
General information on the Unitary Patent
The Unitary Patent (or European Patent with unitary effect) automatically covers the territory of all Contracting Member States which, at the date of grant of the patent, are members of the Unitary patent and have ratified the agreement on the Unified Patent Court, which has exclusive competence for deciding on issues of validity and infringement of the Unitary Patent.
Within one month after grant of the European patent, it is possible to choose the Unitary Patent for those countries that are members thereof, while keeping the European patent for the other countries. Alternatively, the patentee may decide to keep only a European patent in all designated countries with national effect in each individual country.
If the Unitary Patent has been chosen, only one translation is required of the entire description and claims, for example in French or German if the granted patent is written in English. To maintain a Unitary Patent in force, only one renewal fee is to be paid each year, directly at the EPO.
For the European patent with national effects, validation in each designated country must be performed within three months from the grant of the patent. Some countries require a full translation of the description and claims in the national language. Other countries require only a translation of the claims.
Some countries do not require any translation (this is the case, for example, for France, Germany and United Kingdom)
Cost is not the sole parameter to be considered when choosing the Unitary Patent.
In the case of an infringement or nullity action filed by a third party, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) has exclusive jurisdiction and will issue a single decision valid for the entire territory covered by the Unitary Patent.
In the case of a European patent with national effects, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) also has exclusive jurisdiction. However, the patentee has the possibility of opting out during a transitional period of 7 years after entry into force of the UPC agreement. If the patentee chooses to opt-out, the national courts remain competent and their decisions have an effect that is limited to the national territory.
CASALONGA remains at your disposal for any further information and would be pleased to assist you in developing your patent protection strategy in Europe and representing you before the UPC and the national courts in the case of infringement.
Please do not hesitate to contact us!