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ARTICLE · 01 APRIL 2020

UPCA Enactment In Germany Found Unconstitutional

J A Kemp
J A Kemp
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J A Kemp

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The German Constitutional Court has found that the Bundestag did not effectively pass the Act of Approval of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) rendering the Act of Approval void.

United KingdomIntellectual Property
J A Kemp LLP
J A Kemp LLP
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The German Constitutional Court has found that the Bundestag did not effectively pass the Act of Approval of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) rendering the Act of Approval void.

The UP/UPC system is an EU initiative to establish a Unitary Patent (UP) having unitary effect throughout the EU member states, and to establish the Unified Patent Court (UPC) to hear disputes relating to the Unitary Patent, and also relating to European patents having effect in the EU member states.

The complaint filed with the German Constitutional Court was held admissible only in as far as it related to the process of ratification. The ratification process was challenged on the basis that the Bundestag (Germany's upper house) did not vote in favour by the required two-thirds majority. Although in March 2017 the Bundestag voted unanimously in favour of the Act of Acceptance, the total number of votes cast was well below two-thirds of the number of members. The Constitutional

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