Latvia

UP

Yes

UPC

Yes

Status of ratification

Not yet. On March 30 2017 the Parliament of Latvia adopted the Law on the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court. The law will come in force on January 1 2018.

Local or Regional CFI

Regional. Latvia will be part of the Nordic-Baltic regional division of the UPC with Estonia, Sweden and Lithuania (as established on 4 March 2014, read more on this on the related link below).

Location/Venue of CFI

Schleegatan 7, 112 28 Stockholm, Sweden.

Judges

Two regional judges and one judge from the pool.

Languages

English

UP/UPC implementing legislation

On February 16 2017 the Parliament in the first reading supported the associated draft Law on Agreement for the establishment of the Nordic-Baltic Regional Department of the Unified Patent Court.

Other UP matters of interest

The explanatory memorandum accompanying the bill on ratification of the Agreement on a Nordic-Baltic regional division states that cases allocated to Latvia (under the Declaration to the Agreement) may be heard in existing court facilities, although it does not clarify which facilities would be used. A possible candidate would be the Riga City Vidzeme District Court, which is currently deals exclusively with proceedings involving patent disputes in Latvia.