EPO produces unitary effect simulation tool


The EPO has created a plug-in for their online  filing software that simulates the acts you would take to request unitary effect.
 
The procedure to get a unitary patent is almost the same as the current procedure to get a  'classical' European patent. Only after the decision to grant will the two procedures differ. Whereas a classical European patent needs validation in each country in which it is to remain valid, a unitary patent requires that the applicant request unitary effect with the EPO. 

 Requesting unitary effect will be possible using the online filing software that are currently used by most patent firms to interact with the EPO. As the time limit on requesting unitary effect is quite short, it is important that the requesting is easy to do and will not often go wrong. This should be possible as requesting unitary effect does not require a fee, and has few formalities.

Using the  demo software, a user can simulate the acts for requesting unitary effect. Of course any action in the demo software will have no legal effect. Only when the unitary effect has come into effect will the operational version of the software be made available.


The unitary patent demo software can be downloaded here.

Photo 'free wheelin' by Mark Ittleman via Flickr under a CC-By license; image was cropped and edited.

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