Partner Nicholas Fox has been featured in an exclusive titled “Uptake of Unitary Patents Almost A Third of EU Total” in Law360 and “Report reveals unitary patent strategy of IT and engineering leaders” in the World Intellectual Property Review. This is following Mathys & Squire’s recent report, The Use of the Unitary Patent System in IT & Engineering by Partner Nicholas Fox and Associate Maxwell Haughey.
In these articles, Nicholas Fox offers deeper insights into why industry players within the field of IT & Engineering are becoming more open to the Unitary Patent system, whilst noting that some may still remain cautious on account of certain factors such as the likelihood of patent disputes and the cost of translation.
Read the extended press release below.
EU’s new unitary patents now account for 28% of all new patents granted – but major companies split on patent strategy
The EU’s new unitary patents (UPs) now account for 28% of all European patents granted in 2025 to date, up from 26% last year and 18% in 2023*, says leading intellectual property (IP) law firm Mathys & Squire LLP. Of the 19,000 European patents granted in 2024, 5,300 were maintained as UPs rather than as a bundle of national rights.
Mathys & Squire says that the Unitary Patent System, introduced in 2023, is cost-effective if the objective of patent proprietors is to obtain wide geographical protection in Europe. The cost of maintaining a Unitary Patent is roughly equivalent to the cost of maintaining patent protection in four European countries whilst giving inventors a single patent that applies to eighteen EU member states.
In some circumstances unitary patents can, however, be riskier than maintaining rights as a bundle of national patents. The primary risk is that a single court decision could see the patent revoked in all countries where it has effect.
According to Mathys & Squire’s Use of Unitary Patent System: IT & Engineering report, uptake of UPs varies significantly by technical field. The highest uptake of UPs is in civil engineering, where 39% of European patents granted in 2024 were maintained as UPs, up from 28% in 2023. Within the sectors sampled, the Defence sector had the lowest uptake with only 11% of defence patents granted in 2024 being maintained as UPs, that being an increase from 6% of patents granted in 2023.
Nicholas Fox, Partner at Mathys & Squire and European Patent Attorney, explains that uptake of UPs is typically lower in sectors requiring patents in only a few countries. The Oil and Gas sector is a good example of this. In many cases, oil and gas companies tend to only need patent protection only in the North Sea and hence often only in the UK and Norway. Such companies gain little from using UPs. Businesses in sectors needing broader geographical protection benefit more.
Says Fox: “In many sectors, Unitary patents are fast becoming one of Europe’s main patent types. They’re increasingly displacing the old ‘bundle’ system that requires separate validation in each country. They can be a cost-effective way of securing broad geographic protection for an invention in Europe. Adoption of unitary patents is, however, uneven across different technologies and amongst different companies even when companies operate in similar fields.”
Small businesses make proportionally greater use of unitary patents than large businesses
The slow uptake of UPs in some fields is partly due to translation requirements. In many IT and Engineering fields (e.g. telecoms), European Patents are typically maintained in countries where full translation isn’t needed, including the UK, Germany and France. Maintaining rights only in these countries can be sufficient for many companies operating in these fields.
The need for full translations to obtain a UP can be a significant factor behind the slow adoption rate of UPs in IT and Engineering. For companies with large portfolios, costs can mount up, as patents prosecuted in German or French must be translated into English, and those in English must be translated into any EU language.
This is backed up by research which finds that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), who normally have far smaller patent portfolios are making greater use of the unitary patent than large businesses. SMEs accounted for just 23% of European patent filings in 2024 but obtained 36% of all UPs. Large businesses accounted for 69% of all European patent filings but only 57% of UPs. Universities and public research organisations account for the remainder of filings and UPs.
Fox says another reason for lower uptake among large businesses is uncertainty over the role of the new Unitary Patent Court (UPC). The UPC centralises patent disputes in a single court with authority across Europe. However, Fox says these concerns should ease as the court builds a track record of high-quality and predictable rulings.
Adds Fox: “Small businesses appear more enthusiastic about the new unitary patent system. The annual renewal fees to maintain multiple national patents account for a bigger share of their budgets than for large businesses.”
“Some large companies have taken a wait-and-see approach to the UPC. The UPC’s rulings have been consistent so far, giving businesses greater confidence in the system. We therefore expect large businesses to gradually increase their use of the unitary patent system.”
“Businesses are still weighing the costs and benefits of the new system. Broad European coverage can be attractive, but in fields with more frequent disputes, the risk of one court deciding everything across Europe is enough to make them hesitate.”
Leading businesses in tech and engineering take sharply different approaches
Mathys & Squire’s research shows significant variations in UP uptake in different sectors and between companies operating in the same sector.
In Automotive and Aerospace, Mercedes-Benz and Airbus have obtained UPs, while BMW, Boeing and Rolls-Royce have yet to meaningfully engage with the new system. Across the wider transport sector, UPs made up 21% of all European patents granted in 2024, up from 14% in 2023.
Similar variations are to be found within the Defence sector. Overall, engagement with the Unitary Patent system in the Defence sector has been limited with only 10% of European Patents in the sector granted in 2024 being maintained as UPs. Many Defence companies have either not engaged at all with the new UP system or have been highly selective in doing so. By way of example, only 6% and 3% of European patents granted in 2024 to Leonardo and Rheinmetal respectively were maintained as UPs. In contrast, BAE Systems chose to maintain 36% of their patents granted in 2024 as UPs and ThyssenKrupp chose to maintain all its European patents granted in 2024 as UPs.
In Digital Communications, UP uptake has also lagged, climbing from 11% in 2023 only to 18% in 2024. Ericson, and Samsung each converted large numbers of their European patents into Unitary Patents. But as with other areas of technology there is significant variation amongst the biggest filers. Some companies, like Lenovo, maintained all of their European patents granted in 2024 as unitary patents, while Google and Microsoft obtained no unitary patents and instead maintained their European patents as bundles of national rights.
The research also shows some large companies vary their level of engagement strategies across different technologies. For example, Qualcomm maintained roughly two-thirds of its semiconductor patents as UPs in 2024. But in the field of digital communications, the share of patents maintained by Qualcomm as UPs was only 30%.
* The 2023 figure shows the share of European patents that were filed as UPs since the regime came into effect
