News

The slide below was presented at the 2023 NL jurisprudence conference on 13 June in Amsterdam to give an impression of the first cases filed at the UPC. The slide was presented with the express disclaimer that this overview should not be seen as a complete overview of the cases filed but more as an impression of the type of cases, the distribution across the UPC’s divisions and the...

On 12 June 2023, six workdays into the operation of the new pan-European patent court, the Nordic-Baltic Regional Division of the UPC received its first action. Patent holder Edwards Lifesciences Corporation filed an Infringement Action against defendants Meril Lifesciences PVT Limited (IN), Meril GmbH (DE), Smis International OÜ (ES) and Sormedica UAB (LT) based on the European patent No. 2 628...

UIn consecutive updates yesterday and today, the UPC has announced that the local divisions in France, Germany and Italy will accept English alongside their respective national languages as language of the proceedings under Article 49(2) UPCA.

Update on languages of proceedings |
Unified Patent Court (unified-patent-court.org)

UWith respect to ongoing performance issues of the CMS system, the UPC has released a communication on a Worst Case Scenario concerning the filing of Opt-Out requests. Indeed, under such extraordinary circumstances the UPC will allow the filing of Opt-Out requests in form of a “hard copy”. In a nutshell, the following points appear to be most remarkable in this context for every practitioner: The...

nIn a statement published on 18 May, the Italian government has confirmed that Milan will be the third branch of the UPC’s central division, replacing London after Brexit. According to Italian Press (link), the Milan branch is expected to open for business in a few months and will be allocated the following competencies: medical-veterinary science and hygiene (and chemistry closely...

An overview of the languages of proceedings that will be accepted at the local and regional divisions is now available on the website of the Unified Patent Court. The Brussels local division is the one that accepts the most languages: Dutch, French, German and English. Many other local divisions also accept English alongside their national language. The local divisions of France, Germany and...

The UPC has finally published a decision about what will happen with the cases that were originally allocated to the London branch of the central division. Actions related to patents in IPC section (A – human necessities) shall be assigned to the seat in Paris while actions related to patents in IPC section (C – chemistry and metallurgy) shall be assigned to the section in Munich. The...

The Code of Conduct for UPC judges is now available on the website of the Unified Patent Court. A few highlights: a legally qualified judge, as well as a technically qualified judge who is a full-time judge of the Court may not engage in any other occupation, whether gainful of not, unless an exception is granted by the Administrative Committee. (Art. 4 §2)the exercise of the office of a...

On 25 April 2023, the UPC has announced the Presiding Judges for the Central Divisions as well as the Regional and Local Divisions. A corresponding document for designation, as released by the UPC, can be found here. Hence, the Central Division in Paris (FR) will be headed by Ms. Florence Butin while Ms. Ulrike Voß will preside the Central Division in Munich (DE). Of course, there is no decision...

Register now! Dear EPLIT members This will be EPLIT’s tenth anniversary, having been founded shortly after the signing of the UPC Agreement. Remarkably, we have now entered the UPC sunrise period and can look forward to the opening of the Court on 1 June. We therefore hope to see many of you at our Annual Meeting in Paris on 26 May 2023 (with dinner and drinks on 25 May) to celebrate this special...