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German Constitutional Court puts a halt to the ratification of the UPC agreement
The German Constitutional Court has suspended the ratification of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement, due to an anonymous constitutional complaint (Verfassungsbeschwerde, Case No. Az. 2 BvR 739/17).
At the time being, the contents of the constitutional complaint are unknown.
The ratification bill has already been approved by both houses of the German parliament, but the German Constitutional Court expressly requested the German Federal President not to sign it.
It is unlikely that the UPC Agreement will be ratified by Germany before a decision on the merits concerning the anonymous complaint is taken by the Constitutional Court.
Ratification by Germany (and by the United Kingdom) is required for the UPC Agreement to enter into force.
Considering the suspension of ratification in Germany (and the state of uncertainty in the United Kingdom due to Brexit), the entry into force of the UPC Agreement, originally scheduled for the end of 2017, will likely be postponed.
Author
Rebecca Muller Alcalay |