The UK ratifies agreement on a unified patent court

The UK has recently ratified the agreement on a unified patent court (the UPC Agreement). The UK is one of the three countries that have to ratify the UPC Agreement before it can enter into force. Following the UK’s ratification, only Germany’s ratification remains outstanding before the UPC Agreement can enter into force.

However, the German ratification has been postponed until the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) has decided whether or not the UPC system is compatible with the German Constitution. This is expected to be decided later this year, and the UPC Agreement will therefore probably enter into force in autumn 2018 at the earliest.

Despite its recent ratification, the UK’s participation in the UPC Agreement remains subject to uncertainty due to Brexit. See more about Brexit and the UPC on Plesner’s UPC feature page.

You can read more about the legal proceedings pending before the German Federal Constitutional in our previous article:
"The UK is heading for UPC ratification – Germany’s ratification is delayed"

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