The Deutscher Anwaltverein (DAV, the German Bar Association, which represents more than 66,000 German lawyers) has published a Position Paper (58/2016) relating to the proposed Unified Patent Court (UPC) system, which it has sent to the Competitive Council in advance of the Council’s meeting tomorrow, 29 September (see here).  The DAV’s position set out in the Paper is, in summary, that it would be legally possible for the UK to continue to participate in the UPC system after Brexit and ‘a quick decision of the UK is needed’ on whether or not it will ratify the UPC Agreement or whether it would like to postpone that decision (e.g. until after it has concluded the EU exit agreement).  The DAV’s view is that if the UK decides either not to ratify or to postpone its decision then ‘an alternative solution should be found to allow the court system to start its work as planned’.  The Paper explains that once the UK has triggered Article 50 of the TEU, the UPC Agreement’s other signatory states would (under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties) be able to declare that ratification by the UK is no longer required for the UPC Agreement to enter into force.

For more on the effect of the UK’s EU referendum decision on the UPC, see Brexit Q&A and Counsel’s Opinion.