Romania has ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC), and will become the 18th member state of the European Union to join the Unified Patent system from 1 September 2024, marking the next step in European patent protection. The UPC is designed to streamline patent litigation across EU member states, providing a centralized system that enhances legal certainty and reduces costs for patent holders. Romania’s accession to the UPC means that patents granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) can now be enforced uniformly across Romania, in addition to the other participating countries.
To allow users to benefit from the additional territorial scope of the second Unitary Patent generation, the European Patent Office has announced that it will accept requests for a delay of the registration of unitary effect. To benefit from the additional service, patent owners must expressly request the delay when filing their request for European patents with unitary effect.
If the requirements for the registration of unitary effect are met, the EPO will then postpone the registration of unitary effect, i.e. it will register unitary effect on or shortly after the date on which Romania´s ratification of the UPCA has taken effect and communicate the date of this registration to the patent owner. The request for unitary effect itself must still be filed with the EPO no later than one month after the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent in the European Patent Bulletin.
The possibility to request a delay of the registration of unitary effect is only available until the date on which Romania’s ratification of the UPCA has taken effect.
We’ve been able to support many clients with the European Unitary Patents and are happy to provide more information. Feel free to get in touch.