The article examines the approaches that use EU institutions for unification and harmonization of national legislation in the sphere of intellectual property. The differences in harmonization and unification when adopting EU intellectual property rights and European patent with unitary effect are analyzed. It is shown the influence of the EU trade mark and industrial designs regulations on the harmonization of national legislation. It was noted the relevance of the solution of territorial problems of copyright and related rights in the EU Member States and unification of national copyright and related rights legislation.