London, Leeds & Exeter
Wed 28th Jun 2017
Unified Patent Court – latest progress?
Services: International reach, IP strategy, Patents
Sectors:
This week, the Unified Patent Court took one step forward in the UK with the publication of remaining draft legislation, but came to a standstill in Germany, where a law suit has brought proceedings to a pause.
In the UK, the government published the remaining draft legislation to confer legal status on the United Patent Court and privileges and immunities on the Court, its judges and staff.
Click here to download the draft legislation and explanatory memorandum.
The UPC Agreement still requires the finalisation of national procedures concerning the ratification of the UPC Agreement (UPCA) and the participation in the Protocol on Provisional Application (PPA) in a number of countries, including Germany.
However, a suit has been lodged in the German Constitutional Court which has brought a pause to the German ratification of the UPCA and the Protocol on Provisional Application.
The Chairman of the UPC, Alexander Ramsay, is nevertheless optimistic that ‘the situation regarding the constitutional complaint in Germany will be resolved rather quickly and therefore I am hopeful that the period of provisional application can start during the autumn 2017 which would mean that the sunrise period for the opt out procedure would start early 2018 followed by the entry into force of the UPCA and the UPC becoming operational.’
Click here to read the full statement from Alexander Ramsay.
This briefing is for general information purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for legal advice relating to your particular circumstances. We can discuss specific issues and facts on an individual basis and answer any questions you receive from others about Brexit. Please note that the law may have changed since the day this was first published in June 2017.
