German court delays UPC ratification
The German Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) has delayed the ratification of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement.
The Constitutional Court has held up the process because of a constitutional complaint brought by a private person, according to online magazine Legal Tribune Online.
According to the court, during a phone call with the Office of the Federal President, a German federal authority, the court was told by the office that the implementing legislation would not be brought into force until a decision had been issued.
Last week, WIPR reported that the introduction of the UPC had been postponed because some countries have not yet ratified the Agreement.
Germany and the UK have not yet approved the deal, which requires 13 signatories including those two countries plus France before the UPC can be launched.
In February this year, Italy became the 12th country to ratify the Agreement, joining Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden in rubber-stamping the Agreement.
Martin Chakraborty, partner at Hogan Lovells, said he was concerned that Germany will not be able to ratify the protocol on the provisional application in time, so that the start for the protocol (originally scheduled for July 2017) could be “significantly delayed with a knock-on effect on the entire UPC project”.
Hosea Haag, attorney at Ampersand law firm in Munich, said: “The law making on the UPC has not been as transparent as some would have expected. This may indicate that at least not all formal requirements have been met.”
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