Second life for the UPC?

On Thursday, November 26, 2020, the German Parliament again passed approved the Federal Government's draft law on the agreement of February 19, 2013, on a Unified Patent Court (19/22847). In a roll-call vote, 571 members of parliament voted in favor of the bill, 73 voted against, with three abstentions. A two-thirds majority of 473 votes was required.

The new vote was necessary due to the Constitutional Court’s decision of last February declaring the first vote void because the necessary majority of two third was not met (see our analysis here). 

According to the German legislative procedure the law will now still have to be executed by the Federal President. The time frame for the ratification of the UPC Agreement by Germany is therefore not yet fully clear, but the UPC made a major step towards its entry into force. Find all relevant news and updates on our UPC site here