Clifford Chance

Milestone for the European economy - UPC almost ready to come into being despite Brexit

1 December 2016

Following the UK's vote to Brexit, it was thought rather unlikely that the UK would ratify the agreement for establishing the Unitary Patent Court (UPC). This put the entire plan for a unified European patent court system at risk: ratification by the UK - along with Germany and France being the three EU Member States with the highest number of patent applications - is a condition for the UPC to come into effect. Although the UK remains entitled to ratify the UPC agreement following June's Brexit vote, it was not thought that the UK would do so for political reasons, since the agreement necessitates Europe's Court of Justice to have jurisdiction over certain matters.

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