Irish Government reaffirms its commitment to the UPC but referendum date may be as late as 2024

The Irish Government has reaffirmed its commitment to participate in the UPC, issuing a statement earlier this week (28 June 2022). However Ireland requires a public referendum to confirm that it should ratify the UPC Agreement and uncertainty about the timing of this looks likely to mean that Ireland will not be one of the states forming part of the UPC system on Day 1, given that recent announcements place the start date for the UPC in early 2023.

In the statement, the Tánaiste was quoted as saying (emphasis added):

"A single Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court is good for business and for SMEs. It will save money and time and give all parties more certainty. We will consider the other referenda we have coming up and see how best to fit this one in. It won’t be a standalone referendum, so it won’t be held this year anyway but could be next year or concurrent with the Local and European Elections in 2024. It’s important to prepare. I’m conscious that it will need a good public information campaign to explain its significance and that takes time, resources and planning."

Currently, 16 states have ratified the UPC Agreement (Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden) which is already more than the minimum requirement of thirteen. Only Germany's deposit of its instrument of ratification is needed for the fixed timeline to the start of the new court to commence. Germany stands ready to fully ratify once all the practical arrangements are completed and the judiciary are trained and in place.  Once Germany's deposit is made, the sunrise period for opt-out will also commence.

So on Day 1 of the UPC the court will have jurisdiction over (non-opted out) European patents in 17 jurisdictions at least, and more if any further jurisdictions deposit their instruments of ratification in advance of the start date. This will also mean that any unitary patents granted at the start date will apply across those same 17 states (but no more unless more have joined by that date).  The EPO has provided for unitary patent status to be applied for in advance of the start of the UPC during the period following Germany's deposit in order to ensure that there are some unitary patents in place on Day 1 (see our blog post on this here).

Aside from Ireland, other states that have signed the UPC Agreement but have yet to fully ratify it (and so will not take part from Day 1 unless they do ratify in the meantime) are: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Spain, Poland and Croatia are not currently taking part in the UPC.

For more on the UPC and the unitary patent, including opt-out considerations, see our dedicated UPC and UP Hub.