Last week, the German Federal Constitutional Court (“Bundesverfassungsgericht”) issued a long-awaited judgment on a complaint filed against the German legislation implementing the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement.
The new pan-European Unified Patent Court would have jurisdiction on patent infringement and validity litigation regarding all Unitary Patents and also on existing and future classical European patents (during transitional period, national Courts could still also have jurisdiction) in the participating member states.
The Unitary patent will, once validated from a European Patent, be a single patent title for the whole territory of the participating member states.
The legislation to allow implementation of the UPC Agreement had already passed both houses of the German Parliament (“Bundestag” and “Bundesrat”). However, in 2017, upon the suggestion of the Federal Constitutional Court, the German Federal President (“Bundespräsident”) suspended signing of the implementing legislation. Ratification by Germany would complete the necessary numbers of countries to bring the UPC Agreement and the Unitary Patent package into force.
The Federal Constitutional Court decided on 13 February 2020 that the complaint is admissible and well founded to the extent that it alleges an infringement of the requirement of a qualified majority for the implementing legislation under the German Constitution.
This means yet a further delay before the UPC Agreement and the Unitary Patent may enter into force.
Source: Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office
