German Federal Constitutional Court Decides that German Ratification of UPC Agreement is Void

In an order published today, the German Federal Constitutional Court decided that the Act of Approval to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (“UPC Agreement”) is void. In its reasoning, the Court held that the ratification of the UPC Agreement violated democratic principles as the Act of Approval was not passed by two thirds of the members of the German Parliament (Bundestag). Thus, the Bundestag did not effectively pass the Act of Approval.

The UPC Agreement is part of a regulatory package on patents which ultimately aims at introducing a European patent with unitary effect at EU level. If the UPC Agreement were ever to become effective, it would provide for the establishment of a Unified Patent Court as a court common to all participating Member States for disputes concerning European patents and European patents with unitary effect.

For more information on the Court’s order, please see the English language press release or the full text of the Court decision (only available in German).

This article was originally published on AllAboutIP – Mayer Brown’s blog on relevant developments in the fields of intellectual property and unfair competition law.