{"id":22538,"date":"2024-01-01T16:34:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T15:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/?p=22538"},"modified":"2024-11-27T15:39:59","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T14:39:59","slug":"the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unitary Patent in contractual practice"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='av_section_1'  class='avia-section av-m1qos1uf-5d7d715388a48d9e0cb532f65b4a5279 main_color avia-section-large avia-no-border-styling  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  avia-bg-style-scroll container_wrap fullsize'  ><div class='container av-section-cont-open' ><main  role=\"main\" itemprop=\"mainContentOfPage\"  class='template-page content  av-content-full alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-22538'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'>\n<div  class='flex_column av-av_two_third-5367d1a8949ea854cc7619afa10347cf av_two_third  avia-builder-el-1  el_before_av_one_third  avia-builder-el-first  first flex_column_div'     ><p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-m1qor6c2-80a5a8411873c93def4b58ab0f4a1aff\">\n#top .av-special-heading.av-m1qor6c2-80a5a8411873c93def4b58ab0f4a1aff{\npadding-bottom:10px;\n}\nbody .av-special-heading.av-m1qor6c2-80a5a8411873c93def4b58ab0f4a1aff .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{\nfont-size:25px;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-m1qor6c2-80a5a8411873c93def4b58ab0f4a1aff .av-subheading{\nfont-size:15px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='av-special-heading av-m1qor6c2-80a5a8411873c93def4b58ab0f4a1aff av-special-heading-h1 blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-2  el_before_av_hr  avia-builder-el-first'><h1 class='av-special-heading-tag'  itemprop=\"headline\"  >The Unitary Patent in contractual practice<\/h1><div class=\"special-heading-border\"><div class=\"special-heading-inner-border\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-m1qoq5gf-8e954875ed490202b3be1eeda672a042\">\n#top .hr.hr-invisible.av-m1qoq5gf-8e954875ed490202b3be1eeda672a042{\nheight:35px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='hr av-m1qoq5gf-8e954875ed490202b3be1eeda672a042 hr-invisible  avia-builder-el-3  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_textblock'><span class='hr-inner'><span class=\"hr-inner-style\"><\/span><\/span><\/div><br \/>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-b1d32822b5e8e59efb203fef4650f9dc'   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><h2>New aspects requiring regulation for existing and future contracts<\/h2>\n<p>A topic that does not immediately come to mind in relation to the Unitary Patent System is whether the introduction of the Unitary Patent is to be taken into account in the context of negotiating patent-related contracts. This includes classical license agreements as well as R&amp;D agreements, consortium agreements and other agreements comprising provisions on the creation or use of patents.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the introduction of the Unitary Patent System brings up new aspects in the context of such contracts that need to be regulated and which are often not yet sufficiently taken into account in existing contracts. In particular the following aspects need to be considered when negotiation future contracts and revising existing contracts.<\/p>\n<h3>Choice of law by application<\/h3>\n<p>Pursuant to Art. 7 of Regulation 1257\/2012, the law applicable to a Unitary Patent as an object of property in all participating member states is determined by where the patent applicant is domiciled or has his principal place of business at the time of filing an application for a Unitary Patent. Where two or more persons are entered in the European Patent Register as joint applicants for a patent, the domicile or place of businsess of the first-mentioned applicant shall be decisive. Accordingly, in the case of a joint patent application, the question of which applicant is to be designated first may gain considerable importance in the future and should be considered contractually with respect to Unitary Patents.<\/p>\n<h3>Opt-out requests<\/h3>\n<p>A quite complex aspect arises in relation to the possibility to file opt-out requests with respect to European patents granted or applied for prior to the expiration of the transitional period.<\/p>\n<p>The right to opt-out generally belongs to the owner or applicant of the patent, which can lead to conflicting interests, particularly in the context of exclusive license agreements. Thus licensors and licensee may well come to differing conclusions when weighing the advantages of a uniform enforcement of rights against the disadvantages of the risk of a central attack against the European patent. The competences regarding the filing and timing of an opt-out request should therefore be contractually regulated.<\/p>\n<p>In this context, it is also significant that, for example, the holder of an exclusive license is in principle independently entitled to file an action under the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court. If the (exclusive) licensee brings an action before the Unified Patent Court before an opt-out has been declared, the patent proprietor loses the possibility for an opt-out. Thus, there may also be a need for new contractual provisions regarding the enforcement of patents. Conversely, this also applies to the possibility of withdrawing from an opt-out once it has been declared, which is only possible as long as no action has been brought before a national court.<\/p>\n<p>As regards granted EP patents, it should also be noted that an opt-out request can only be filed uniformly for all validated parts, which always leads to a need for regulation if the different parts are not held by the same proprietor. In the case of joint ownership, it should also be noted that the opt-out must in principle be declared jointly for all applicants or owners, which requires prior clarification between joint-owners.<\/p>\n<h3>Summary<\/h3>\n<p>The introduction of the Unitary Patent gives rise to a whole series of new aspects, which should be taken into account when negotiating patent-related contracts. On the one hand, this applies to future contracts. On the other hand, since this topic will generally not sufficiently be taken into account in existing contracts, existing contracts should also be reviewed in order to discuss open issues requiring regulation between the contracting parties at an early stage. Even after the Unified Patent Court enters into force, an opt-out should be considered and addressed in a timely manner if no action is yet pending.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_hr-fe79b5e9c7dc7236081eb587a4ccff38\">\n#top .hr.hr-invisible.av-av_hr-fe79b5e9c7dc7236081eb587a4ccff38{\nheight:35px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='hr av-av_hr-fe79b5e9c7dc7236081eb587a4ccff38 hr-invisible  avia-builder-el-5  el_after_av_textblock  el_before_av_button'><span class='hr-inner'><span class=\"hr-inner-style\"><\/span><\/span><\/div><br \/>\n<div  class='avia-button-wrap av-nkjgqy-1e9a4f91f8907d3b423ee909c338fb56-wrap avia-button-left  avia-builder-el-6  el_after_av_hr  el_before_av_hr'><a href='https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/upc\/upc-unitary-patent\/'  class='avia-button av-nkjgqy-1e9a4f91f8907d3b423ee909c338fb56 av-link-btn avia-icon_select-yes-left-icon avia-size-medium avia-position-left avia-color-theme-color'   aria-label=\"Back to page Unitary Patent\"><span class='avia_button_icon avia_button_icon_left avia-iconfont avia-font-linearicons-free' data-av_icon='\ue879' data-av_iconfont='linearicons-free' ><\/span><span class='avia_iconbox_title' >Back to page Unitary Patent<\/span><\/a><\/div><br \/>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_hr-fe79b5e9c7dc7236081eb587a4ccff38\">\n#top .hr.hr-invisible.av-av_hr-fe79b5e9c7dc7236081eb587a4ccff38{\nheight:35px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='hr av-av_hr-fe79b5e9c7dc7236081eb587a4ccff38 hr-invisible  avia-builder-el-7  el_after_av_button  avia-builder-el-last'><span class='hr-inner'><span class=\"hr-inner-style\"><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/p><\/div><div  class='flex_column av-av_one_third-866c246b881428acd016a5e4e8ec097a av_one_third  avia-builder-el-8  el_after_av_two_third  avia-builder-el-last  flex_column_div'     ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A topic that does not immediately come to mind in relation to the Unitary Patent System is whether the introduction of the Unitary Patent is to be taken into account in the context of negotiating patent-related contracts. This includes classical license agreements as well as R&#038;D agreements, consortium agreements and other agreements comprising provisions on the creation or use of patents.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[319,308],"tags":[],"legal_areas":[],"class_list":["post-22538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upc-unitary-patent","category-upc-page"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The unitary patent in contractual practice - all information<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find out here to what extent the introduction of the unitary patent must be taken into account when drafting patent-related contracts!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The unitary patent in contractual practice - all information\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Find out here to what extent the introduction of the unitary patent must be taken into account when drafting patent-related contracts!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BOEHMERT &amp; BOEHMERT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-01T15:34:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-27T14:39:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/boehmert-und-boehmert.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Petra Hettenkofer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Petra Hettenkofer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Petra Hettenkofer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e46018db6ce9c808bc0f35de4a8cec19\"},\"headline\":\"The Unitary Patent in contractual practice\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-01T15:34:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-27T14:39:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2211,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Unitary Patent\",\"UPC Overview\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\\\/\",\"name\":\"The unitary patent in contractual practice - all information\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-01T15:34:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-27T14:39:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"Find out here to what extent the introduction of the unitary patent must be taken into account when drafting patent-related contracts!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Unitary Patent in contractual practice\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT\",\"description\":\"Intellectual property law firm\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT Anwaltspartnerschaft mbB\",\"alternateName\":\"BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Logo-boehmert.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Logo-boehmert.webp\",\"width\":696,\"height\":172,\"caption\":\"BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT Anwaltspartnerschaft mbB\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/de.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/boehmert-&-boehmert\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xing.com\\\/pages\\\/boehmert-boehmertanwaltssozietat\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boehmert.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e46018db6ce9c808bc0f35de4a8cec19\",\"name\":\"Petra Hettenkofer\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The unitary patent in contractual practice - all information","description":"Find out here to what extent the introduction of the unitary patent must be taken into account when drafting patent-related contracts!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The unitary patent in contractual practice - all information","og_description":"Find out here to what extent the introduction of the unitary patent must be taken into account when drafting patent-related contracts!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/","og_site_name":"BOEHMERT &amp; BOEHMERT","article_published_time":"2024-01-01T15:34:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-11-27T14:39:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/boehmert-und-boehmert.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Petra Hettenkofer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Petra Hettenkofer","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/"},"author":{"name":"Petra Hettenkofer","@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e46018db6ce9c808bc0f35de4a8cec19"},"headline":"The Unitary Patent in contractual practice","datePublished":"2024-01-01T15:34:07+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-27T14:39:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/"},"wordCount":2211,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Unitary Patent","UPC Overview"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/","url":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/","name":"The unitary patent in contractual practice - all information","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-01-01T15:34:07+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-27T14:39:59+00:00","description":"Find out here to what extent the introduction of the unitary patent must be taken into account when drafting patent-related contracts!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/the-unitary-patent-in-contractual-practice\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Unitary Patent in contractual practice"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/","name":"BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT","description":"Intellectual property law firm","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/#organization","name":"BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT Anwaltspartnerschaft mbB","alternateName":"BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT","url":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Logo-boehmert.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Logo-boehmert.webp","width":696,"height":172,"caption":"BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT Anwaltspartnerschaft mbB"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/de.linkedin.com\/company\/boehmert-&-boehmert","https:\/\/www.xing.com\/pages\/boehmert-boehmertanwaltssozietat"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e46018db6ce9c808bc0f35de4a8cec19","name":"Petra Hettenkofer"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22538"},{"taxonomy":"legal_areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/legal_areas?post=22538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}