The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a court common to its contracting member states and it will have exclusive competence in respect of European patents and European patents with unitary effect. After a delay of almost four years, the route to German ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement has been reopened by the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court.

The German Federal Constitutional Court states that the constitutional complaints lodged in the main proceedings are inadmissible as the complainants failed to sufficiently assert and substantiate a possible violation of their fundamental rights, as stated in the Court’s press release.

The FCC’s rejection of two applications for an interim injunction against the UPCA ratification bills means the German president can now sign them into law and Germany can complete all formalities. It brings a lot closer the start of the Unitary Patent system, although some hurdles must still be taken