Today is Unitary Patent day!
In principle, a Unitary Patent could be obtained for a European Patent granted from 1 June 2023. But in practice, the European Patent Office only publishes grant of patents on a Wednesday, and so today is the first day in which patents are actually granted that can be the subject of a request for unitary effect to become a Unitary Patent in the participating 17 EU countries. It has been possible to file such requests in advance (since the beginning of January 2023) but they cannot take effect before today.
EIP has filed some requests for unitary effect already, and we expect to file more over the next few weeks. The Register shows that 650 requests for unitary effect have been filed already; none granted yet.
Don't forget that if the patent is granted in English, a translation into any official EU language must be filed as well. The language does not have to be of a country participating in the Unitary Patent system, so Spanish is a popular choice, especially if the European Patent will be validated in Spain as well.