Patenting in Europe and worldwide
European Patent
The EPO (European Patent Office) is the body that examines and grants European patent applications.
The European patent application initially covers the 38 states that have joined the European Patent Convention (EPC). At the time the European patent is granted, the holder is required to select the countries of interest among the 38 covered up to that point. At this stage, the European patent becomes a "bundle" of national patents in each individual country of interest.
International patent application
The WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) manages international patent applications. International patent applications exist, but international patents do not, since the procedure for filing an international patent application does not provide for grant.
The unified filing procedure, outlined by the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) agreement, allows a single application to be filed to seek a patent in about 150 countries. Although at the time of filing the patent application is a single one for all the countries of interest, at a certain point in the procedure it is transformed into a range of national or regional patent applications. Therefore, anyone advertising their products using the wording "international patent" is committing an offence; at most, the wording "international patent application filed" may be used.
European patent with unitary effect
Applications for the registration of the European patent and the European patent with unitary effect will soon be subject to the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court (UPC). The EPO (European Patent Office) will manage the entire procedure for filing and granting the unitary patent, as it is already doing for the European patent.
