Insights: The UPC in numbers – June 2023 to February 2024

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) has recently released updated details of the case load of the Court* since it commenced operations in June 2023.

In the intervening period the Court of First Instance (CFI) has heard a total of 274 cases, with some key takeaways from the lifespan of the UPC so far being:

Infringement cases: 96 of the cases filed before the CFI have been infringement actions. These have been heard across a variety of local divisions across Europe, but so far the majority have been in Germany (36 in Munich, 20 in Dusseldorf, 11 in Mannheim and five in Hamburg). Paris (nine cases), the Nordic Baltic regional division (five cases),then Milan and the Hague (three case each) and Brussels, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Vienna (one case each) have been less busy.

Counterclaims: Counterclaims for revocation in 39 individual infringement actions have been heard so far.

Types of actions: Infringement actions have to date been by far and away the most common use-case for the Court, with 96 cases. Of the remainder, revocation actions (24 cases) and provisional measures (17 cases) are the next most common forms of actions before the Court.

Language: As was expected, the language of proceedings of the Court has been dominated by German (48% of cases) and English (43% of cases). French (4%), Italian (3%) and Dutch (2%) are marginal use cases so far.

Appeal: The Court of Appeal has started to receive appeals – 27 cases so far.

IPC classes: Class H is the most prevalent class seen before the CFI, with 37 infringement actions, 19 counterclaims and three revocation actions. Class A (20, six and 13 respectively) and Class B (17, seven and three respectively) have seen the next highest usage. Classes D, E, and F have seen far lower uptake, with no counterclaims or revocations, and a total of four infringement actions across all three classes.

*Figures correct up to the end of February 2024