Unified Patent Court update

In August, Germany passed a law to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA). Since then, at the end of September Germany brought the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and Unitary Patent (UP) one step closer to coming into being by ratifying the Protocol on the Provisional Application of the UPCA (PPA).

Ratification of the PPA will provide the UPC with all means necessary to prepare so that the court can initiate litigation and take action.

For the PPA to enter into force, at least thirteen countries must ratify.  Particular named countries including Germany must ratify even if the minimum number is reached.

On 19 November 2021, the Austrian Parliament unanimously passed the government bill in view of ratifying the Protocol to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC) on provisional application (PPA). Thus, we are closer to the entry into force of the PPA.

For UPC and UP, this means the court could begin operations in 2023, and some forecasts suggest a possible time in the end of 2022 and the start of a three-month sunrise period even earlier. Although, there can and probably will be further hiccoughs down the road, it appears that the UPC is finally back on track.