The German Federal Constitutional Court has decided on 13th Feb 2020 that the ratification of the treaty establishing the Unified Patent Court was in breach of the German constitution for formal reasons and was therefore null and void.
As a result, the ratification process must now be relaunched. The vote would have to be repeated with the constitution-altering majority of two thirds of the Bundestag members. This means a further delay for the start of the Unitary Patent.
Further information can be found here:
https://www.patentamt.at/en/patents/patents-service/international-patents/unitary-patent/
or here:
https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/EN/2020/bvg20-020.html
26. March 2020