Yesterday, January 18th 2022, Austria deposited its instrument of ratification of the Protocol to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court on provisional application (PPA) - the Austrian Parliament having ratified the PPA on December 2, 2021. Austria being the thirteenth signatory state, this now triggers the entry into force of the provisional application of the Unified Patent Court Agreement pursuant to Art. 1 of the PPA.
During the period of provisional application, all technical and infrastructural preparations necessary for establishing the new Unified Patent Court (UPC) will be completed. The period of provisional application is expected to take at least eight months. For details of the further preparatory work, such as recruitment of the judges for the UPC, we refer to https://www.unified-patent-court.org/.
As soon as the Court is ready to operate, Germany is expected to deposit its ratification instrument concerning the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA). The UPCA will enter into force on the first day of the fourth month after Germany deposits its ratification instrument. This date will be the start of the UPC-System in Europe and is expected to take place towards the end of 2022 or early in 2023.
