Further Delays To The UPC

As mentioned last week, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is facing delays and is not expected to go ahead as planned in December 2017.

Now to further complicate the issue, it seems there has been another interruption in the process which looks to add even more significant delays. According to German newspaper ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’, following a constitutional complaint by an as of yet unknown individual the ratification process in Germany has now been put on hold. Subsequently the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the request of the Constitutional Court will not formally sign the legislation into law therefore adding additional delays until a decision has been made.

It is believed Germany were close to ratifying the legislation with parliament already signed off. Following this and also delays by Britain in this agreement due to Brexit and more notably the recent election there is no doubt this new legal challenge will only cause significant disruption for this single court system to come into existence.