The promulgation in the German Official Journal on 12 August of the law ratifying the Protocol on the Provisional Application (PAP) of the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court (UPCA) clears the way for the short-term establishment of the Court.
This was made possible by the order of 23 June 2021 of the German Federal Constitutional Court, which rejected two requests for a preliminary injunction against the approval act adopted in December 2020 by the Bundestag.
“It should however be kept in mind that the German ratification is not sufficient since the consent of two further participating Member States is required for the PAP-Protocol to enter into force and mark the start of the provisional application period”, notes a statement from the future court published on 18 August. These additional ratifications are expected to take place during the autumn of this year, it added.
The PAP is the final step in the establishment of the Unified Patent Court (UPC). When the PAP protocol enters into force, the legal and organisational capacity of the UPC will be established and the final part of the preparatory work can be completed.
The UPC will start its activities immediately after the entry into force of the UPC agreement. As a reminder, the agreement will enter into force on the first day of the fourth month after the deposit of the thirteenth instrument of ratification, including Germany, France and Italy (the three Member States with the highest number of European patents, the UK having left the EU).
The UPC preparatory committee is aiming at mid-2022 for the establishment of the UPC. This is good news for economic operators who have been waiting for several years for ratification to be unblocked (see EUROPE 12530/18, 12474/17). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)