The Unitary Patent System kick off.

From 1 June 2023, as an alternative or in addition to the traditional national validations in the individual countries of interest that are members of the EPC (European Patent Convention), it is possible for holders of a European Patent Application who have received the grant notification from the EPO (European Patent Office) to opt for a European patent with unitary effect.
The European patent with unitary effect is regarded as a patent having unitary effect in the EU countries which have acceded to this system, and which have ratified the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court, UPC, for which only a single renewal fee has to be paid.
Currently, the following 17 EU states are party to the EPC for which it will be possible to obtain unitary effect: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden.

Obtaining a European patent with unitary effect does not entail any change to the EPO's administrative procedures for filing, searching, examining and granting the European patent.
An application for unitary effect must be filed with the EPO in the language of the proceedings, accompanied by a translation of the patent into one of the official languages of the EU, no later than one month after the date on which the mention of grant of the European patent is published in the European Patent Bulletin.
The European patent with unitary effect will be entered in the Register of Unitary Patents at the EPO, which will also handle the registration of assignments and licences.
A European patent with unitary effect does not cover all the contracting states to the EPC. If, in addition to the unitary patent, patent protection is sought in other contracting states to the EPC, national validation procedures will have to be carried out for those contracting states to the EPC which are not covered by the European patent with unitary effect.