Provisional Application Of UPC Agreement Goes Into Effect

On 18 January 2022, the Austrian government deposited its instrument of ratification of the Protocol on Provisional Application of the Unified Patent Court. Austria's formal ratification of the Protocol means that sufficient member states have now ratified the Protocol, and thus the Protocol has now come into effect.

Ratification of the Protocol is a key step in the creation of the Unified Patent Court because it allows the Preparatory Committee to interview and appoint judges to the Court on a preliminary basis so that the Unified Patent Court itself can come into existence. The exact date when the Court will open is still uncertain. However, the Preparatory Committee for the Unified Patent Court has previously indicated that they expected the interviewing, training and appointment of judges to the Court would take around 8 or 9 months. In practice, now that provisional application has been approved, the Unified Patent Court is likely to come into existence at