UNITARY PATENT

Germany and the United Kingdom are delaying the ratification the UPC Agreement, making it very hard to name a starting date for the unitary patent: the latest official communique points at the first half of 2018.

The unitary patent with effect in all EU states that have joined the enhanced cooperation (including Italy) is now expected to kick off in the first half of 2018, as announced by the Chairman of the Unified Patent Court Preparatory Committee in a message published yesterday.

That the Unified Patent Court will not begin operations in 2017 had already been officially confirmed two weeks ago, when it emerged that the approval process of the German law ratifying the Unified Patent Court Agreement had been suspended pending an appeal before the German constitutional court.

However both Germany’s and the United Kingdom’s ratifications are mandatory for the court, as well as the unitary patent itself, to begin operations.

Doubts as to whether the participation in the Unified Patent Court is compatible with an exit from the European Union have been hanging over the United Kingdom’s ratification for over a year.

Now the additional uncertainty brought by the appeal before the German constitutional court has forced the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the Unified Patent Court to admit that “under the current circumstances it is difficult to maintain a definitive starting date”.

The chairman hopes nonetheless that the Unified Patent Court Agreement will enter into force by the first half of 2018.

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