UPC in Brief: Unitary Patent Protection Trends: Discrepancies, Statistics, and Language Requirements in 2024

We previously reported that unitary protection was requested for 25% of newly granted patents in the first half year of the UPC's operation (up to December 2023). However, the UPC dashboard of the European Patent Office (EPO) shows a lower figure of 17.5% for 2023. This discrepancy arises because the EPO's calculation erroneously divides the number of unitary protection requests in 2023 by the total number of patents granted in the same year. This method overlooks that unitary protection was only available for European patents granted on or after 1 June 2023, following the UPC's commencement.

This trend continues in 2024. According to the latest UP statistics from the EPO, unitary protection has been requested for 24.3% of the European patents granted this year (as of 14 July 2024). This more reasonable figure is reflected in the UPC dashboard of the EPO.

In 2024, the percentage of unitary protection requests varies across different IPC classes. For IPC class A61K (pharmaceuticals), the percentage is above average at approximately 28%. In IPC class F (mechanical engineering), it aligns with the average at around 23%. However, in IPC class H (electronics), it is below average at 15%. While these figures are currently estimates—since the 1-month deadline for requesting unitary patent protection is still open for recently granted patents—they are consistent with the data reported for 2023.

Regarding language requirements, a full translation of the European patent specification into English is required if the proceedings are in French or German. Conversely, if the proceedings are in English, a full translation into another official EU language is necessary (see Art. 6 of EU Regulation No 1260/2012).

According to the EPO's UPC dashboard, English is the procedural language for 73.8% of Unitary Patents granted so far, German for 20.2%, and French for 6.0%. As a result, 26.2% of Unitary Patents (those with French and German as the procedural languages) include a full English translation. Interestingly, Spanish is the most common language used for translations (30.0%), likely because a full Spanish translation is required for validation in Spain, which is not a member state of the London Agreement.