In mid-June, the German Federal Constitutional Court asked the German President not to sign legislation designed to implement the EU Unified Patent Court (UPC, EU Agreement 16351/12) and Unitary Patent (EU Regulation 1257/12). Now, there are hints for a further delay. The constitutional complaint behind the delay, rumoured to be brought up by a German life sciences IP expert, has led to a stop of hiring German judges for the UPC, a clear signal that Germany is going to halt the ratification process of the UPC agreement for a longer period of time than previously expected. Without the UK, Germany and France ratifying legislation for the UPC, the unitary patent cannot become reality. To date, only five EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Malta, and Sweden) have ratified the agreement. The new move is expected to delay ratification at least until 2020. (source : https://european-biotechnology.com/up-to-date/latest-news/news/implementation-of-eu-unitary-patent-court-delaying.html)
Ratification of the UPC probably delayed until 2020 !
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