On 18 July 2016, Luxembourg ratified the Protocol to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court on provisional application.  This follows the signature of the Protocol by Luxembourg and 7 other countries in October 2015.  The purpose of the Protocol is to allow some parts of the UPC Agreement to be applied early (to enable final preparations for the Court to be made and early registration of opt-outs).  For the Protocol to come into force, it requires Germany, France, the UK and 10 other signatories to the UPC Agreement to declare themselves bound by the Protocol (e.g. by signature with or without ratification), and also those same countries to have either ratified, or received parliamentary approval, to ratify the UPC Agreement.  Hence, whilst it is encouraging for UPC supporters that countries such as Luxembourg are continuing with their preparations for the new system, following the UK’s 23 June referendum, early ratification of the UPC Agreement by the UK seems highly unlikely, thus causing at least a substantial delay in the UPC timetable (see Brexit Q&A).