II.Licences and other rights and any legal means of execution 

131A Unitary Patent may be licensed in respect of the whole or part of the territories of the participating Member States (Article 3(2) Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012). It may, in respect of all the participating Member States, give rise to rights in rem and may be the subject of legal means of execution. Unitary Patents may also be subjected to a compulsory licence (see Recital 10 Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012). Rule 22(1) and (2) EPC also applies to registration of the grant, establishment or transfer of such rights and any legal means of execution affecting a Unitary Patent (see Rule 23(1) EPC).

132A licence will be recorded in the Register for unitary patent protection as an exclusive licence if the applicant and the licensee so require. A licence will be recorded as a sub-licence where it is granted by a licensee whose licence is recorded in the Register for unitary patent protection (see Rule 24 EPC).

134Upon request and subject to payment of the prescribed administrative fee, a registration of a licence or other right will be cancelled on production of documents satisfying the EPO that the right has lapsed or has been declared invalid, or of a declaration of the proprietor of the right that they consent to the cancellation (Rule 23(2) EPC). If the request is filed via MyEPO Portfolio, it is exempted from payment of the said administrative fee.

135The EPO has been entrusted with receiving licensing commitments undertaken by the proprietor of the European patent with unitary effect in international standardisation bodies (Article 9(1)(c) Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012 and Rule 16(1)(k) UPR). It is recommended that Form 7005, which is available on the EPO's website, be used for requesting the registration of such licensing commitments.