Patents/ Utility Models
Although the EPO does not charge an official fee for the unitary patent, and the UPC does not charge for an opt-out either, the corresponding requests require some efforts and are therefore not for free.
Annuity fees for maintaining a Unitary Patent are the more attractive the greater the desired country coverage is. If patent protection through a classic EP patent is desired for only one or two countries, the classic EP patent is less expensive. However, if patent protection in four or more participating EU member states is desired, the annuity fees for the unitary patent are cheaper.
A significant cost advantage also comes from simplified administration. Instead of validating several individual countries, a whole group of EU member states is validated as a single unit. Costs for translations can be reduced. A further cost advantage arises, for example, if the Unitary Patent is assigned to a new owner, because the change of ownership can be recorded by a single central request for all participating EU member states.