Further to our earlier posts the make up of the committee of UK Members of Parliament (MPs) who will review and scrutinise the draft Statutory Instrument ('SI') which will if granted give the UK green light for the new Unified Patent Court (UPC) to proceed has now been confirmed.
This together with last week's approval by the Scottish Parliament of the equivalent Scottish SI will allow the UK to ratify the UPC protocol and Agreement as a necessary step to the new system coming into force.
The Westminster Committee will be made up of seven MPs and seven House of Lords members and will form the Joint Committee on SIs.
The date for its first meeting is not yet fixed. The order is needed to give the UPC the privileges and immunities it requires, such as protection from lawsuits for its judges and staff.
The seven MPs are of mixed political persuasion, with three from the Labour and Conservative parties, and the other from the Scottish National Party (SNP).
The seven Lords are a mix also with 2 Conservatives, 4 Labour and one Liberal Democrat.
The UK is not the only member state which needs to ratify and Germany and France are also mandatory signatories to allow the UPC to take effect. France has already ratified but Germany has had to put the process on hold pending the outcome of a constitutional challenge.
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