United Kingdom moves closer to the Unified Patent Court

The UK government has published a draft Statutory Instrument (SI) and laid it before the Parliament. The changes moves the UK one step closer to the unitary patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC). The SI draft, entitled “The Patents (European Patent with Unitary Effect and Unified Patent Court) Order 2016”, will now pass through Parliament and is likely to be approved in March 2016.
However, the SI, which makes certain changes to the UK Patents Act 1977, will not come into force until the UPC Agreement comes into force.
Before the UK can ratify the UPC Agreement another SI draft will be laid before Parliament to endorse the UPC Protocol on Privileges and Immunities after it has been agreed by the UPC Preparatory Committee.