Status of unitary patent ratification

Before the unitary patent system can start, 13 countries need to ratify the agreement on a unified patent court; including Germany, France and the United Kingdom. With the recent ratification of Sweden the number of countries which fully completed the ratification is currently 3.

Below are all countries for which I know of serious ratification progress:

Ratification Completed

France
Austria
Sweden

Serious ratification progress

United Kingdom
Malta
Belgium
Denmark

Announced plans for a division of the unified patent court 

Lithuania
Latvia
Estonia


Furthermore, I think we we can safely include Germany, and probably the Netherlands as likely candidates to ratify. That brings the total number of countries for which a ratification is sure or quite likely to 12 out of a needed 13. There are more than enough candidates for the 13th country.

Still, it would be nice if somebody would send me link for a further country working on ratification; I'd be happy to blog about it.



Comments

  1. You suggest that ratification will surely happen and maybe even quite soon, but what if the UK would decide to leave the EU (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/eu-referendum) - they are a mandatory ratification state, and without being a EU member, they cannot participate in the Enhanced Cooperation?! What will be the (possible) effect(s) on the Unitary Patent, and on the UPC?

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  2. Probably Luxembourg will also be likely to ratify, in particular because the court of appeal will be located in Luxembourg. Malta may become a problem because they are only an EPC member state since 1 March 2007 which means that EP patents filed before that date cannot become a European patent with unitary effect.

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