a shortcoming in some respects, and as an advantage in others." Unitary patents in the European Union The creation of a European community patent system, which would lead to a single unitary patent in the European Union (or its predecessor the European Community), has been debated since the 1970s. In 2012 agreement was reached between all European Union Member States except Italy and Spain on a European patent with unitary effect, more commonly known as the unitary patent, a proposed new type of patent that would be valid in participating member states of the European Union. Unitary effect can be registered for a European patent upon grant, replacing validation of the European patent in the individual countries concerned. The unitary effect means a single renewal fee, a single (group of) owner(s), a single object of property, and uniform protection, which means that revocation as well as infringement proceedings are to be decided for the unitary patent as a whole rather than for each country individually. Licensing is however to remain possible for individual countries. Agreement on the two EU regulations which make the unitary patent possible was reached during the European Council of 28–29 June 2012, and by the European Parliament on 11 December 2012. The provisions will apply once the related Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, which was signed by all EU member states except Croatia, Poland and Spain, enters into force. Other legal agreements have been proposed outside the European Union legal framework to reduce the cost of translation (of European patents when granted) and litigation, namely the London Agreement (which entered into force in 2008) and the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA) (which never entered into force). Statistics Based on data from Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the UK, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) found that German courts handle by far the largest number of patent litigation cases. See also Enforcement of European patents European trade mark law European Union patent law Intellectual property in Romania Patent infringement under United Kingdom law Unitary patent (Switzerland and Liechtenstein) Notes References Further reading Patent Litigation in Europe, Discussion Paper No. 13-072 by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Lost property: The European patent system and why it doesn't work, Bruegel Blueprint Series, Volume IX, 29 June 2009,