The Unified Patent Court (UPC) has recently produced its first annual report, for 2024. The report provides an overview of the Court, its history and marked events, the composition and notable case law of the Court of First Instance and Court of Appeal, as well as statistics from the first 18 months of the Court.
The Court has been consistently busy since its inception, hearing some 633 actions in total up to 31 December 2024. In this bulletin, we have provided a brief review of the report and highlighted some interesting findings.
Case Law
The Court of First Instance:
The Court of First Instance (CFI) includes three Central Divisions, located in Paris, Munich and Milan, along with thirteen Local Divisions and a Regional Division. Of the c.633 orders and decisions issued at first instance, the report discusses some of the most insightful. Despite the CFI being composed of several Divisions across Europe, it can be seen that the judges regularly refer in their own judgements to decisions and orders already issued by other panels. This is positive news for those hoping that the Court will bring a new, more harmonised approach to litigation throughout Europe.
Notably, most of the orders and decisions from the first 18 months relate to procedural matters, reflecting the early stages of the Court. However, we expect the catalogue of substantive case law to continue to build with the continuing popularity of the UPC.
The Court of Appeal:
The UPC’s Court of Appeal (CoA), whose purpose is to review decisions and orders of the CFI and to ensure a uniform interpretation of the law, is based in Luxembourg. A number of CoA decisions and orders are also summarised in the report, relating to both substantive and procedural issues.
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Statistics
The report concludes with a breakdown of statistics collated across the initial 18 months of the Court (i.e. from its inauguration on 1 June 2023 to the end of December 2024). Some notable statistics are as follows.
- 549,977 opt-out requests were filed.
- There are now 9,930 registered representatives before the Court (as of 31 December 2024).
- The report also provides some interesting statistics on the average time, in days, to close cases for different types of action. Infringement and revocation actions took, on average, around 380-405 days (i.e. about 13 months) to close. Applications for provisional measures under RoP192 (application for preserving evidence – Saisie) were as quick as 25 days, on average. While, of course, it is still early days in the life of the Court, this is promising for the Court’s aim of delivering efficient litigation in Europe.
- In 2024, the most cases (as a single Division) were lodged with the Court of Appeal. At first instance, the Local Divisions in Munich and Dusseldorf were by far the most popular, having 128 and 81 cases lodged in 2024, respectively. Infringement and counterclaim revocation actions were the most common form of activity in the Local Divisions.
- Regarding infringement and revocation actions in 2024, 71% of infringement actions involved a counterclaim for revocation, whereas only 9% of revocation actions involved a counterclaim for infringement.
- Interestingly, while German parties were the most common claimant and defendant parties by nationality, the second most common claimant and defendant nationality was outside of Europe: the US. Japanese parties formed the third most common defendant party nationality.
- Most infringement and counterclaim revocation actions in 2024 related to IPC class H (electricity), followed by classes A (Human Necessities) and G (Physics).
- Unsurprisingly, most cases were heard in English, followed by German.
Looking to 2025
Of note for UPC Representatives, the report also confirms that the UPC’s Registry is intending to make substantial efforts to deliver a new, state-of-the-art Case Management System that will meet the high standards expected of an international patent court. Moreover, substantial improvements are foreseen as regards the presentation of the Registry in order to meet the requirement and demand for transparency.
There is also an ambition to establish and begin operation of the Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre (PMAC) during the year.
At Boult, our team already have a considerable success record in advising clients on Unitary Patents and before the UPC. For more insights about the Court and the Unitary Patent system, read the latest from our team here. You can also register for our UPC newsletter to receive notifications when our insights are published. Contact a member of our UPC Team today.
