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Unified Patent Court

All UPC judges and their current capacities

The Unified Patent Court currently employs 129 legally and technically qualified judges. The court recently created a third panel at the Court of Appeal and appointed additional judges in both fields. JUVE Patent presents the complete list and the current capacities of the UPC judges. The editorial team will update this overview on a regular basis.

2 January 2026 by Mathieu Klos

UPC judges in focus: JUVE Patent presents an overview of all judges and their backgrounds. ©victor217/ADOBE STOCK

The bench of the Unified Patent Court is steadily growing. While there were 124 legally and technically qualified judges in mid-2025, by the end of the year there were already 129. In the second half of the year, the Administrative Committee responsible for staffing the court announced the creation of a third panel at the Court of Appeal and four new legally and one technically qualified judge. Bart van den Broek, Natalie Sabotier, Georg Werner, Daniel Severinsson and Selma Schenkl took up their positions by the turn of the year 2025/26. At the end of 2025, the court also announced the appointment of five additional legally qualified judges. These will take up their positions on 1 March 2026.

UPC Court of Appeal

First panel

  • Klaus Grabinski – full-time; presiding judge and president of Court of Appeal; member of the presidium; Germany
  • Peter Blok – part-time; also professor for IP law at Utrecht University; the Netherlands
  • Emanuela Germano – part-time; also judge at Turin IP Court of Appeal; Italy
  • Emmanuel Gougé – full-time; France

Second panel

Third panel

  • Ulrike Voß – full-time; presiding judge; Germany
  • Bart van den Broek – full-time; former lawyer at Hyong ROKH Monegier; The Netherlands
  • Nathalie Sabotier – part time; Cour de cassation Paris; France

The Registry 

The Registry of the Court is located at the Court of Appeal in Luxembourg and has sub-registries at every division of the Court of First Instance.

Two other full-time UPC staff working closely with the presidium are registrar Alexander Ramsay and deputy Axel Jacobi. Ramsay is Swedish and Jacobi is from Germany. Though not judges, they play crucial roles in court operations from the main seats in Luxembourg and Paris.

UPC Central Division, Courts of First Instance

Central Division, Paris

  • Florence Butin – full-time; president of the court of first instance; member of the presidium; France
  • Paolo Catallozzi – part-time; also judge at the Italian Supreme Court; Italy
  • Maximilian Haedicke – part-time; also professor at the University of Freiburg; Germany
  • François Thomas – part-time; also judge at the French Supreme Court; France
  • Marjolein Visser – part-time; also judge at the District Court The Hague; the Netherlands
  • Tatyana Zhilova – part-time; also judge at the Administrative Court Sofia; Bulgaria

Central Division, Milan

  • Anna-Lena Klein – part-time; also judge at Munich Regional Court; Germany
  • Marije Knijff – part-time; also judge at the District Court The Hague; the Netherlands
  • Andrea Postiglione – part-time; presiding judge: also deputy Advocate General at the Supreme Court of Cassation in Rome; Italy

Central Division, Munich

  • Mélanie Bessaud – part-time; also conseiller référendaire at the French Supreme Court; France
  • András Kupecz – full-time; presiding judge; the Netherlands
  • Daniel Severinsson – full-time; judge at the Patent and Market Court in Stockholm; Sweden

UPC Local Divisions, Courts of First Instance

Local division, Brussels

  • Samuel Granata – part-time; presiding judge; also judge at the Court of Appeal Antwerp and Benelux Court of Justice; Belgium

Local division, Copenhagen

  • Peter Agergaard – full-time; presiding judge; also judge at the Maritime and Commercial High Court; Denmark

Local division, Düsseldorf

Local division, Hamburg

Local division, Helsinki

  • Petri Rinkinen – part-time; presiding judge; also judge at the Market Court Helsinki; Finland

Local division, Lisbon

  • Rute Lopes – part-time; presiding judge; also judge at the Commerce Court of Sintra; Portugal

Local division, Ljubljana

  • Mojca Mlakar – part-time; presiding judge; also judge at the District Court Ljubljana; Slovenia

Local division, Mannheim

Local division, Milan

  • Pierluigi Perrotti – part-time; presiding judge; member of the presidium; also judge at the District Court Milan; Italy
  • Alima Zana – part-time; also judge at the District Court Milan; Italy

Local division, Munich

Panel 1

Panel 2

  • Daniel Voss – full-time; presiding judge; Germany
  • Georg Werner – full-time; former judge at the Regional Court Munich; Germany

Local division, Paris

  • Carine Gillet – part-time; also judge at the Lille First instance Court; France
  • Camille Lignières – full-time; presiding judge; member of the presidium; France

Local division, The Hague

  • Edger Brinkman – part-time; presiding judge; also judge at the District Court The Hague; the Netherlands
  • Margot Kokke – full-time; also judge at the District Court The Hague; the Netherlands

Local division, Vienna

  • Walter Schober – part-time; presiding judge; also judge at the Higher Regional Court Vienna; Austria

Nordic-Baltic Regional Division (EE, LT, LV, SE)

  • Kai Härmand – part-time; also judge at the Harju County Court, Tallinn; Estonia
  • Stefan Johansson – full-time; presiding judge; also judge at the Stockholm City Court; Sweden

The full list of technically qualified judges

The technically qualified judges are not permanently employed by the UPC. Almost without exception, they continue to work in their original positions as judges at a national patent court, as examiners at the European Patent Office, or as patent attorneys in private practice or in-house departments of companies. Technically qualified judges are therefore remunerated on an hourly basis depending on their caseload.

Biotechnology

Chemistry and pharmaceutics

  • Gabriele Alt – Germany; former technical judge at the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office (and biotechnology)
  • Michael Alt – Germany; patent attorney at Bird & Bird
  • Xavier Dorland-Galliot – France; chairman of the opposition commissions at the French IP Office (INPI)
  • Renaud Fulconis – France; patent attorney at Bandpay & Greuter
  • Rudi Goedeweeck – Belgium; in-house patent attorney at AGFA-Gevaert
  • Andreas Gustafsson – Sweden; judge at the Patent and Market Court, Stockholm District Court
  • Anna Hedberg – Sweden; judge at the Patent and Market Court, Stockholm District Court
  • Stefanie Parchmann – Germany; patent attorney at Maiwald
  • John Meidahl Petersen – Denmark; in-house patent attorney at Lundbeck
  • Stefanie Philipps – Germany; judge at the German Federal Patent Court (not chemistry)
  • Laure Sarlin – France; patent attorney at Beau de Loménie
  • Martin Schmidt – France/Germany; patent attorney as single practitioner and at IXAS Conseil
  • Casper Struve – Denmark; patent attorney at Zacco (also technically qualified judge at the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court)
  • Steen Wadskov-Hansen – Denmark; patent attorney at Budde Schou
  • Carola Wagner – Germany; judge at the German Federal Patent Court
  • Erwin Wismeth – Germany; judge at the German Federal Patent Court (and physics)

Electricity

Mechanical engineering

Physics

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Author

Mathieu Klos

Editor JUVE Patent
mathieu.klos@juve.de
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