Unitary Patent in CAS STNext
CAplus, DWPI, INPADOCDB/INPAFAMDB, and EPFULL cover the patent information originating from the new Unitary Patent system and the Unified Patent Court (UPC). Searching the new patent family and legal event information and standard retrieval options are fully supported:
- Unified Patent Court Opt-Outs: Opt-out information from the UPC is made available in the INPADOCDB/INPAFAMDB legal status data, easily retrieved by the legal status category UOO.
- Unitary Patent Protection: EP C0 family members are covered in all four CAS STNext patent databases including designated states (details see below). The patent status indicator is available in CAplus and INPADOCDB/INPAFAMDB.
- Legal Status: Legal events concerning the unitary effect request (assigned to the legal status category UER) and usual post grant events as fee payment, licensing, lapse, or withdrawal, are available in INPADOCDB/INPAFAMDB.
- Monitoring: Users have the ability to monitor patent families for new EP C0 family members or new UP, UPC opt-out events, or other UP events using the standard CAS STNext workflow.
The EP unitary patent or European patent with unitary effect is in effect since June 1, 2023. It is an extension of the European patent system with a centralized post-grant procedure. The unitary effect must be requested at the EPO within one month after grant of a European patent.
For further details about the unitary patent, see the EPO website: https://www.epo.org/applying/european/unitary.html
The unitary patent is currently (August 2023) valid in 17 member states of the European Union: Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Denmark (DK), Estonia (EE), Finland (FI), France (FR), Germany (DE), Italy (IT), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Portugal (PT), Slovenia (SI), and Sweden (SE).
See also the HELP UNITARYPATENT in CAplus, INPADOCDB/INPAFAMDB, DWPI, and EPFULL.
For additional information on implementation and legal event codes, see Unitary Patent in CAS STNext (PDF).