Malta becomes latest country to ratify the UPC

Malta has become the latest EU member state to ratify the Unified Patent Court (UPC) agreement.

The Maltese parliament had passed legislation agreeing to join the UPC in January, but it was only recently that it was confirmed by the Council of the European Union.

It is the sixth nation to ratify the agreement following Sweden, France, Belgium and Denmark, which all confirmed their participation this year. Austria—the first nation to ratify the UPC agreement—signed up to it last year.

Germany and the UK are expected to ratify the agreement next year.

For the UPC to go into effect 13 member states have to ratify it, three of which must be Germany, the UK and France.

The UPC, however, has been hit with a legal challenge from Spain, which is protesting against the exclusion of Spanish as a language in the UPC. In the agreement, the official languages of the UPC will be French, German and English.

But The Court Justice of the European Union is set to throw out the challenge after the Advocate General recommended the case be dismissed.