The new Unitary Patent tool, introduced in June 2023, is witnessing increasing adoption. The EPO’s interactive dashboard containing UP statistics confirms the trend for the first year[1]: unitary effect requests in 2024 account for over 25% of new EP grants.
The adoption of the Unitary Patent is particularly notable in technology sectors, with medical technologies—an area where Italy has a significant presence—representing about 12% of requests in 2024. This highlights the importance of the system for businesses operating in the field. Conversely, the pharmaceutical sector, which led the rankings for opt-out requests from the jurisdiction of the new Unified Patent Court last year, places only ninth for unitary effect requests, confirming this sector’s cautious approach towards the UPC and greater confidence in national courts.
In Italy— which ratified the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court back in 2016, demonstrating an early commitment to this new system—interest and trust in the Unitary Patent seem to be growing, possibly following the establishment of the third central division of the UPC in Milan, which was initially intended to be based in London before Brexit.
The new tool is proving particularly advantageous for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and Italian start-ups, thanks to reduced costs associated with validation and translations compared to the traditional national validation procedure. As of now, Italy ranks among the top ten countries in Europe for unitary patent requests; this evolving data is also reflected in statistics related to language requirements, with Italian being the fourth most used language for the translation of Unitary Patents[2], after Spanish, English, and German. Although it does not rank among the top positions dominated by countries like Germany and France, it is nonetheless playing a significant role in the European patent landscape.
The adoption of the Unitary Patent in Italy is likely to continue growing, especially in industrial contexts where companies seek to protect their inventions with broad coverage at lower costs compared to single validations in multiple countries.
[1] It should indeed be noted, when looking at the 2023 statistics, that the new tool was only available for grants made in the second half of the year.
[2] During the transitional period, where the language of proceedings is not English, a translation of the patent must be submitted in English; if the language of proceedings is English, the translation can be provided in any of the other official EU languages.