Topics: auxiliary requests
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LD Brussels, August 17, 2026, Order on Admission of Auxiliary Request, UPC_CFI_806/2025, UPC_CFI_185/2026
An amendment to a party’s case cannot be allowed if it could have been foreseen from the outset of the proceedings (R. 263 RoP, R. 30.2 RoP): Granting leave to amend at a late stage would allow the applicant to change its litigation strategy after the fact. A diligent patentee should coordinate its EPO and…
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LD Hamburg, order of August 10, 2026, order on provisional measures, UPC_CFI_1321/2026
Asserting claims in a form narrower than the granted (independent) claims in proceedings for provisional measures is admissible: Relying on a claim combination narrower than any of the granted claims does not, in principle, preclude the ordering of provisional measures (cf. headnote 1). Auxiliary requests in proceedings for provisional measures may be inadmissible if features hail…
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LD The Hague, August 10, 2026, infringement action, counterclaim for revocation, UPC_CFI_251/2025, UPC_CFI_769/2025
Interim conference reduced the number of auxiliary requests and prior art documents: Following the order issued after the interim conference, Maxell reduced the number of auxiliary requests from 44 to 10. Samsung, which had originally cited 24 documents against the main request and the auxiliary requests, correspondingly reduced its attacks against the main request to…
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LD Milan, July 21, 2026, interim conference, UPC_CFI_703/2025 and UPC_CFI_1757_2025
Physical inspections and judicial weighing experiments may be ordered under Rules 170.2(f), 170.2(g), and 201 RoP if necessary and proportionate to establish infringement: The claimant’s request to weigh the seized vehicle was justified to prove infringement. The court noted that practical difficulties and costs do not negate the necessity of the experiment. (Sec. 10 et…
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Court of Appeal, July 13, 2026, decision, UPC_CoA_473/2025
Defending Dependent Claims Without Formal Amendment: A patentee can defend dependent claims without filing a formal application to amend under Rule 30 RoP; R. 30 RoP does not require that the patentee submit an auxiliary request as a prerequisite for defending dependent claims. An Application to amend the patent is only required if the patentee…
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LD Munich, May 5, 2026, Interim Conference, UPC_CFI_165/2025, UPC_CFI_665/2025
It was agreed that number of invalidity attacks should be limited to five or six and the number of auxiliary requests should be limited to about ten: The large number of invalidity attacks and auxiliary requests were discussed during the interim conference. It was agreed that the parties shall limit their attacks/auxiliary requestsas follows:Defendants shall…
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LD Hamburg, April 27, 2026, Decision, UPC_CFI_685/2024, UPC_CFI_157/2025
High number of auxiliary requests (here: 51) may be admissible where the patent faces numerous and diverse validity challenges (headnote 1): The Court must weigh all relevant circumstances, including the complexity of the technology, the number of prior art documents, the nature and number of validity attacks (novelty, inventive step, clarity, enablement, added matter), and…
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LD Paris, April 16, 2026, Infringement Action and Counterclaim for Revocation, UPC_CFI_138/2025, UPC_CFI_522/2025
Party-affiliated affidavits are valuable technical information but lack the probative value of independent expert opinions (R. 181(2) RoP).: Both parties submitted affidavits from current or former employees. The Court treated these as witness statements rather than expert opinions, but nonetheless considered them valuable technical information from persons with industry experience in the relevant technical area.…
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Court of Appeal, March 27, 2026, Order, UPC_CoA_898/2025
Asserting a patent in a non-registered claim version is not categorically excluded in provisional measures proceedings; admissibility depends on the circumstances of each case (R. 211.2 RoP).: There is no automatic additional burden on the Appellee from assertion of a non-registered version. Whether the specific version is suitable for provisional measures is a case-by-case determination.…
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LD The Hague, February 25, 2026, UPC_CFI_620/2025, UPC_CFI_1509/2025, UPC_CFI_1511/2025
A number of 42 auxiliary requests (ARs) in response to e Counterclaim for Revocation may be deemed unreasonable; the court can order the patentee to provide a structured tabular overview for procedural efficiency (Rule 30 RoP).: The court clarified that any further combinations of ARs not included in the claimant’s initial application to amend would…
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LD The Hague, February 18, 2026, application to amend, UPC_CFI_616/2025
An amendment to include a new product is permissible, but may be unnecessary if the initial claim for injunctive relief is already broadly worded: The Court found the claimant’s request for relief against infringing products “and/or further versions or variants thereof” was already broad enough to cover the new product. Even if one would consider…
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CD Paris, 7 January 2026, Decision in the counterclaim for revocation UPC_CFI_433/2024
An application to substantively amend a patent is only admissible if a full, consolidated set of claims is filed in time with the deadline of the application (R. 30 RoP): The Court cannot redraft claims for a party due to the principle of judicial neutrality. Amendments must be immediately intelligible without subjective reconstruction, ensuring clarity…
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LD Munich, August 22, 2025, Decision, UPC_CFI_248/2024
Indications of purpose in a device claim: 1. Indications of purpose in a device claim regularly define a device in such a way that it must be suitable for use for the function and purpose specified in the patent claim. 2. If a device claim contains an indication of purpose, the only factor relevant for…
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LD Mannheim, June 6, 2025, Decision, UPC_CFI_471/2023
No equivalent infringement without essentially the same effect : According to all doctrines of equivalence or equivalence tests of the UPC contracting member states, equivalent patent infringement is ruled out if there is no technical-functional equivalence of the substitute means in the sense that the modified means do not perform essentially the same function in…
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CD Munich, April 18, 2025, Generic Order, UPC_CFI_526/2024
Reasonable number of auxiliary requests: To ascertain what constitutes a reasonable number of auxiliary requests, several factors are to be considered: the complexity of the technology involved, the number of prior art documents, the individual validity attacks and the presentation and structure of the auxiliary requests. It is not relevant whether there are multiple proceedings…
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CD Paris, January 17, 2025, decision in first instance on validity, UPC_CFI_316/2023
“Generous standard” with regard to late-filed facts and evidence: While the front-loaded approach of the UPC system requires the parties so submit facts and evidence relied on as early as possible, a generous standard is to be applied with regard to submissions in a Reply to a Statement of Defence. A Claimant is allowed to…
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LD Munich, January 13, 2025, revised order on auxiliary requests, UPC_CFI_298/2023
The number of 55 auxiliary requests can be reasonable: Upon panel review the court views the number of 55 auxiliary requests as exceptionally high but not unreasonable. Considering the extreme complexity of the case (in particular in view of the number of grounds of invalidity raised), the importance of the patent at issue and the…
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