2016: Countdown to the start of the Unified Patent Court

Published

Jan 04 2016

Written By

I am a partner in our Intellectual Property practice in the Netherlands, based in Amsterdam where I am one of our founding partners. I am also a member of our Tech & Comms, Life Sciences and Energy & Utilities groups.

The German ratification of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement will most likely be postponed until September 2016 and be decisive for the Unitary Patent (UP) system to go live. Wouter Pors, partner of law firm Bird & Bird, has said this in an interview with Kluwer IP Law. Thirteen ratifications are needed for the new European patent system to start functioning, including those of France, the UK and Germany. So far eight countries, including France, have ratified.