Here's a quick introduction on how to find information regarding unitary patents now
that they have become available. To start with, it should be noted that the unitary patent is
of course based on a granted European patent, and as such it will not be republished in full.
Instead what you can expect to see is what's shown in mock-up here.
We show this in this video for the simple reason that you can see
that the countries that are covered by the unitary patent are actually shown on this page.
You may recall from other videos or information
that we have provided that a unitary patent can only cover those countries
that have become members by the time the unitary patent is granted.
Now that's not all of the countries that have shown an intention to become members,
so other countries might come along and accept the unitary patent in the future.
But as they do, the scope of an already granted unitary patent will not increase
so that a unitary patent once granted is limited to the countries you see here.
So the list of countries is quite important to determine
which countries are covered by the unitary patent.
The same information will of course also be available through the unitary patent register.
The new regulation that has given birth to the unitary patent
tasks the EPO to maintain a unitary patent register. Now that unitary patent register
will be maintained as part of the usual European patent register. Now on the left hand side here,
you can see what a unitary patent will look like when it's pulled up in the in the EPO register.
There are two things to note here. One is this C0 designation at the end of the patent number.
That simply indicates that the patent you're looking at is a unitary patent.
The other change that you can see is this blue symbol to the left of the patent number, the blue
symbol with a white cross, that again indicates that a unitary patent protection has been granted.
By clicking on that cross you can get to the unitary patent,
as you'll see in a minute. On the right hand side, you can see a list of options
that should be familiar from the European patent register, the top half should be familiar in any
case. Bottom half in the red box, that is new and is available now that allows you
to access information regarding the granted European patent with a single mouse click.
The search function of the European patent register has also been changed. You now get two
new search functions shown at the bottom of the screen here, where you can search by the date of
registration of the unitary patent or indeed by the date at which unitary effect was requested.
The results of such a search or any search in fact on the European patent register
will provide an additional column, as appropriate of course, that shows you
if unitary effect has been granted again in that column you see this blue symbol with a
white cross in it that carries you straight to the information relevant to the unitary patent.
It looks like it will be quite straightforward to access unitary patent information through
the search functionality and through these extra fields in the search results and in
the European patent register so that the unitary patent information should
seamlessly integrate with the other information available through the European patent register.
Now, we hope that this short, whirlwind tour provides a useful
introduction to information relating to the unitary patent. If you have any
questions or require more information, then that information is likely to be
provided on our website on our UPC Hub. Thanks very much for listening. Bye-bye.