UK ratifies the UPC agreement
On the 16th of April 2018 the United Kingdom announced ratification of the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court (UPCA). The United Kingdom is one of the three Contracting State necessary for the entry into force of the Agreement (the other two are France, which has already ratified in 2014, and Germany, which awaits the decision of the Constitutional Court on an appeal presented by a German citizen). So, at the moment, 16 States have ratified the Agreement (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Italy, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden, in addition to the United Kingdom); therefore, the additional requirement for the entry into force of the Agreement (which also requires the signature of at least 13 States) is met.