Pharma industry rejoices as German court slams down Unified Patent Court system

The German Constitutional Court has published its decision that the German Act implementing the Unified Patent Court system is unconstitutional.

After a long drawn out process and admittedly some flaws in this project, the German courts put a major halt on hopes of a unified patent or unified patent court (UPC). While, they did agree to re-evaluate the UPC after Brexit, it seems that the reality of a UP or UPC, has been buried for years to come. Says co-head of IP law firm Fieldfisher Benjamin Grizimek.

Germany was the final nail in the coffin, after many other countries had ratified the creation of a UPC. Germany understandably played leading role in the decision especially as within Europe, Germany is the largest filer of patents and the majority of patent litigation also takes place in the German courts, he noted.