Path cleared for Unified Patent Court and European Unitary Patent

Düsseldorf, July 12, 2021 – In its decision of June 23, 2021, the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has rejected two requests for a preliminary order against the bill from February 19, 2013 on the Agreement to a Unified Patent Court (“EPGÜ-ZustG II”), which was adopted by the German parliament on December 18, 2020.

As an international treaty between all participating member states of the European Union, the UPC Agreement provides for the establishment of a common Unified Patent Court for disputes concerning European patents and European patents with unitary effect.

The parties filing the complaints with the FCC essentially alleged a violation of their right to democratic self-determination and asserted a violation of the principle of the rule of law, the fundamental right to effective legal protection, and violations of Union law and constitutional identity.

The Senate did not agree and declared the constitutional complaints inadmissible on the merits because the complainants had not sufficiently substantiated the possibility of a violation of their fundamental rights.

C&F welcomes the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court: "After a long back and forth, the path is now clear for the Unified Patent Court and the European Unitary Patent. Although we have expressed concerns in the past, what matters now is to make the new system a success", says Gottfried Schüll, patent attorney and partner of C&F.

The exact wording of the Federal Constitutional Court's press release of July 9, 2021, can be read here.

Picture credits: weyo – AdobeStock.com