Bulgaria deposited its instrument of ratification with the Council of the European Union on 3 June, meaning that Bulgaria has now completed all steps required for the formal ratification of the UPC Agreement.
Bulgaria thus becomes the tenth country to have fully ratified the Agreement. Only the UK, Germany and one other country now need to ratify the Agreement in order for the Unitary Patent system and Unified Patent Court to become reality.
At least three other countries (Italy, Lithuania and the Netherlands), as well as the UK and Germany, have begun taking their own steps towards ratification of the Agreement, and thus the system appears to be on track for an estimated May 2017 commencement date.
Further developments will be reported here as they happen.