Unitary Patent Guide

2nd edition / April 2022

The "Unitary Patent Guide" aims to provide companies, inventors and their representatives with an outline of the procedure involved in obtaining a Unitary Patent from the European Patent Office once it has granted a European patent on the basis of the provisions laid down in the European Patent Convention (EPC).

The guide also deals with the procedures relating to Unitary Patents, such as those to be followed under the compensation scheme for translation costs or when registering a statement on licences of right, as well as offering an overview of the rules on how to pay renewal fees for Unitary Patents.

Available formats

The Unitary Patent Guide is published in English, French and German and is only available electronically.

HTML version

This version is regularly updated and optimised for online use.

Select "Show modifications" to view amendments. The check box is disabled for sections with no amendments. 

Go to the Unitary Patent Guide

PDF files

This printable pdf is the best version to use for browsing the entire text offline and for full-text searching.

Download the Unitary Patent Guide