Romania is to join the UPC on 1 September 2024, and so will be covered by any Unitary Patent registered after that date.

This is the first new state to join the UPC since it started in June 2023, so from now on a Unitary Patent could cover different states depending on when the request for unitary effect is registered.

Any request for a Unitary Patent filed after 1 September 2024 will automatically cover Romania.  For requests filed between now and 30 August 2024, it is possible to request a delay to registration until on or after 1 September to allow the resulting Unitary Patent to also cover Romania.  If you are considering filing any Unitary Patents before 1 September 2024, you will need to consider whether you would like them to cover Romania as well, so that we can if necessary request the necessary delay to registration when filing the request for unitary effect.

For further information or guidance, please contact one of our UPC experts below: