The territorial scope of a Unitary Patent covers the territories of those EU Member States participating in enhanced cooperation on Unitary Patent protection and in which the UPCA is in force at the time of registration of the unitary effect (Art. 18(2) Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012, see also 1.5.2). The scope remains the same for the entire lifetime of the Unitary Patent and is not extendable to the participating Member States that ratify the UPCA after its unitary effect has been registered. The Unitary Patent system became operational on 1 June 2023 for the following 17 states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden.
On 1 September 2024, Romania acceded to the Unitary Patent system, which now covers 18 states (see 1.5.2). The territorial scope of each individual Unitary Patent is shown in the Register for unitary patent protection UP Register (see Rule 16(1)(g) UPR 7.5.2).
Details on the territorial scope of the Unitary Patent in the participating Member States with overseas territories (i.e. Denmark, France, Netherlands) may be found in the EPO publication entitled "National measures relating to the Unitary Patent", which is available on the EPO website (epo.org).