UPDATE: Complainant against UPC ratification in Germany confirmed as Ingve Stjerna

Ingve Björn Stjerna

As the German law blog JUVE reports, the complainant who filed the constitutional complaint against the ratification of the UPC Agreement in Germany is - as has been rumoured for a while - the attorney Ingve Stjerna. Stjerna has long been a vocal critic of the Unified Patent Court, and the complaint reflects some of his earlier criticisms (see IPKat post here and here for details of the complaint).


In late August, the German Federal Constitutional Court asked several stake holders to comment on the complaint, among them the German Ministry of Justice, the German Bar Association (Deutscher Anwaltverein DAV) and the European Patent Lawyers Association EPLAW, not, however, the UPC Preparatory Committee. The deadline to comment is rather short, which should indicate that the Court may decide on the admissibility of the complaint this year. Whether the complaint is even admissible is still not clear, but the requests for substantive comments indicate that the Court leans towards admissibility. Should the complaint be admitted, there is a  likelihood that the Court will refer questions on EU law to the ECJ, which would lead to considerable delays in the implementation of the UPC Agreement.


JUVE also reports that the Hungarian Minister of Justice, acting on behalf of the government, filed a motion with the Constitutional Court of Hungary requesting the Court’s opinion on the constitionality of the UPC Agreement. Since Hungary is not, however, one of the three required signatories (France, Germany, UK) for the entry into force of the UPC Agreement, the Hungarian assessment is not highly relevant. Needless to say, since German ratification is required for the Unified Patent Court and the Unitary Patent to come into existence, should the German Constitutional Court find the UPC Agreement unconstitutional, this could significantly delay or even derail the UPC and Unitary Patent.