Brexit

Contrary to our beliefs, the UK has voted for leaving the EU. This will delay the opening of the gates of the UPC. Article 89 of the UPC Agreement provides that the Agreement shall only enter into force in case the three Member States in which the highest numbers of European Patents had effect have ratified the Agreement. That includes the UK. There are rumors as to how things will proceed. The most daring one is that the UK will ratify despite Brexit and negotiate a leave from the UPC Agreement along all other issues it has to deal with. More likely is the idea to bring Article 87 (2) of the Agreement into operation: “The Administrative Committee may amend this Agreement to bring it into line with an international treaty relating to patents or Union law.” One could argue that, with Brexit, the Agreement is no longer “in line” with Union Law. Hence, the Administrative Committee might amend Article 89 of the Agreement to read “… including three of the four Member States in which the highest number of European patents had effect…” The problem is that, at this moment in time, there is only a Preparatory Committee and no Administrative Committee. The protocol to the UPC Agreement on provisional application could be a tool to solve this problem. Yet, the protocol as it stands does not refer to Article 87 or Article 89. Finally, it has been suggested that the referendum (or the notification to the European Council of the intention to leave) is sufficient to no longer make the UK a Member State in the sense of Article 89 UPC Agreement. While we are used to a lot of stretching when interpreting laws, this will not be acceptable. Beyond rumor, however, is the statement of the head of the Preparatory Committee, Alexander Ramsay, stating that the project will continue. What is needed is likely a formal revision of the UPC Agreement, with or without subsequent ratification of the participating states. This can be achieved rather quickly, unless those not in favor of the current structure of the Agreement see this as a chance to rectify existing mistakes, and/or to delay the project into the far future. In any case, with the UK actually having left the EU the UPC will open its gates.