Italy becomes 12th country to ratify the UPC Agreement
On February 10, 2017 Italy ratified the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA), becoming the 12th contracting member state to do so after Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Finland as indicated in the ratification progress chart published on the EU Council’s website here.
The instrument of ratification – the final procedural step - was deposited with the EU Council on the said date, after the Italian Bill no. 214 of November 3, 2016 ("the Bill") approving UPCA ratification was published in the Official Italian Gazette last November 25, 2016.
The Bill has also already modified the Italian IP Code by introducing, under Article 66, brand new rules on contributory infringement and on limitation of patent rights (i.e. for private use, experimental use and Bolar exceptions). An article by our Italian IP team summarising these amendments and their implications can be found here.
Italy will also host a local division of the UPC in Milan. The venue was finally selected by Italian authorities last November, details of which can be found here.
Italy is thus now fully on track for being a part of the UPC system.
