Summary of the UPC month
The UPC keeps up its momentum, with new cases being filed continuously.
Filing statistics
As of January 31, 2024, a total of 245 cases were pending with the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal.
These 245 cases can be broken down as follows:
- 85 infringement actions
- 86 counterclaims for revocation
- 26 central revocation actions
- 16 requests for provisional measures
- 1 inspection request and
- 5 requests for the preservation of evidence
Trends
The Local Division in Munich is maintaining its lead position with a share of 69 cases (30 infringement actions and 10 provisional measures).
With a total number of 26 appeal cases pending, the Court of Appeal is also becoming increasingly busy.
UPC developments
The UPC is attracting plaintiffs from all fields of industries around the globe. This month even saw the first NPE cases filed with the UPC and this is likely just the beginning.
The UPC users are, however, still waiting for a decision of the UPC Administrative Committee to provide the legally qualified UPC judges with full-time assignments (currently, the vast majority of the UPC judges only have part-time assignments).
Further delay of such decision could ultimately lead to a slowing down of pending actions and a backlog of the processing of newly filed cases.
Key decisions in a nutshell
This month’s key decisions touch on the topics of
(1) extension of deadlines
The extension of deadlines is an exception to keep the procedure moving. A general statement concerning technical problems with the CMS is not sufficient for the grant of such an extension.
(2) permissible number of briefs in the written proceedings
If the defendant itself raises new points in his rejoinder, a concise reply of the claimant is admissible without a default right to a further reply for the defendant.
(3) change in the language of the proceedings
The defendant can lodge a motion for a change in language before submitting the statement of defense. The specific circumstances of SMEs can be taken into account when deciding on a change in the language of the proceedings based on the principle of fair access to justice.
Remarks
German remains the predominant language of proceedings with 47 percent. However, English is catching up – for the time being 43 percent – and this trend will likely continue over the next months.