Italy Ratifies UPC Agreement

On 10 February 2017, Italy became the twelfth Member State to deposit its ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA). Ratification by Italy means that a further key European market will be covered by the UPC system.

At this stage, ratification by Italy is not an essential step in bringing the UPCA into effect. The remaining States which must ratify the Agreement before the UPC can become operational are the UK and Germany. The UPCA will come into effect on the first day of the fourth month after ratification by those two states.

As mentioned here, Slovenia and Lithuania are also expected to ratify the UPCA in the near future, further expanding the geographical scope of the UPC system.