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ARTICLE · 02 MAY 2018

UPC - Still A Question Of Wait And See

Mishcon de Reya LLP
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On World IP Day, the UK Government announced that it had taken steps to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement.

European UnionIntellectual Property
Nina O'Sullivan
Nina O'Sullivan
Adam Rose
Adam Rose

On World IP Day, the UK Government announced that it had taken steps to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement. The Brexit vote and political fallout, together with an outstanding constitutional challenge in Germany, has had a significant impact on the timing of the project. At present, it is still not possible to say with certainty when the UPC will open its doors for business, or when the first Unitary Patents will be granted.

For the project to commence, 13 Member States must ratify the UPC Agreement, with the mandatory ratifying states being France, the UK and Germany. As enough Member States (including France) have ratified, and the UK has also now done so, it is only ratification in Germany that is needed. If the challenge before the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany is rejected, it may therefore be sometime in 2019 that the new regime is up and running.

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