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Unified Patent Court

All UPC judges and their current capacities

The Unified Patent Court currently employs 134 legally and technically qualified judges. In April, the court saw its first judge retire as Italian judge Emanuela Germano stepped down. This led to changes in the central division and the Court of Appeal. Since the beginning of 2026 the UPC Administrative Comittee has appointed eleven new legally qualified judges. 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.

14 April 2026 by Mathieu Klos

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

The roster of judges at the UPC is steadily growing. While there were 124 legally and technically qualified judges in mid-2025, by the end of the year that number had already risen to 129. By March 2026, the number of judges had increased by another five as Thomas Adocker, Goda Ambrasaité-Balyniené, Ingo Rinken, Ina Schurr, and Robert van Peursem joined the UPC as legally qualified judges.

After Emanuela Germano’s retirement in April this year, Paolo Catalozzi took over her position at the Court of Appeal. He was previously a judge at the central division in Paris. Vincenzo Carni succeeded Catalozzi in Paris on 1 April. Carni is an experienced IP judge and remains a judge at the Court of First Instance in Milan

This means that the court has appointed eleven new legally qualified judges since the beginning of the year. In addition, more judges have upped their capacity to full-time, with 32 of the 58 legally qualified judges now working full-time for the UPC.

As well as increasing the number of judges, the court recently changed its structure again. At the turn of the year, the court implemented a third panel at the Court of Appeal. Then, at the beginning of March, the second panel at the local division Düsseldorf also became operational. However, the large number of panels at the German UPC divisions, which handle the majority of UPC cases, has recently sparked debate within the European patent community regarding a fairer distribution of cases within the UPC system.

Further promotions and an increase in capacities among the current judges are considered certain given the UPC’s budget.

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
  • Paolo Catallozzi – part-time; also judge at the Italian Supreme Court; Italy
  • Emmanuel Gougé – full-time; France

Second panel

Third panel

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
  • Vincenzo Carnì – part-time; also judge at the Court of First Instance Milan; 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 – full-time; Bulgaria

Central Division, Milan

  • Andrea Postiglione – part-time; presiding judge: also deputy Advocate General at the Supreme Court of Cassation in Rome; Italy
  • 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

Central Division, Munich

UPC Local Divisions, Courts of First Instance

Local division, Brussels

Local division, Copenhagen

Local division, Düsseldorf

Panel 1

Panel 2

  • Bérénice Thom – full-time; presiding judge; Germany
  • Ingo Rinken – full-time; former judge at the Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf; Germany

Local division, Hamburg

Local division, Helsinki

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

Local division, Lisbon

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

Local division, Munich

Panel 1

Panel 2

Local division, Paris

Local division, The Hague

  • Edger Brinkman – part-time; presiding judge; also judge at the District Court The Hague; the Netherlands
  • Margot Kokke – full-time; the Netherlands
  • Robert van Persem – part-time; also Advocate General at the Dutch Supreme Court; 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)

The full list of technically qualified judges

The 81 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 in own firm
  • 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

  • Pascal Attali – France; in-house patent attorney at Bose Corp
  • Eric Augarde – France; patent attorney at Brevalex
  • Bertrand Cochet – France; in-house patent attorney at Orange
  • Torsten Duhme – Germany; patent attorney at Witte Weller (and physics)
  • Alain Dumont – Belgium; technical judges at the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
  • Guillaume Faget – France; examiner at the French IP Office (and physics)
  • Hergen Kapels – Germany; judge at the German Federal Patent Court (and physics)
  • Christian Keller – Germany; German Patent and Trademark Office (and physics)
  • Steven Richard Kitchen – Denmark; patent attorney at Copa (and physics)
  • Dennis Kretschmann – Germany; patent attorney at Boehmert & Boehmert
  • Addick Land – the Netherlands: patent attorney in own firm (and mechanical engineering and
  • physics)
  • Klaus Loibner– Austria; examiner at the Austrian Patent Office (and physics)
  • Udo Matter – Germany; judge at the German Federal Patent Court (and physics)
  • Johannes Mesa Pascasio – Austria; Austrian Patent Office (also part time judge at the Higher Regional Court Vienna; and physics)
  • Christoph Norrenbrock – Germany; patent attorney at Pavant (and physics)
  • Michael Quittkat – Germany; German Patent and Trademark Office
  • Wiem Samoud – France; examiner at the French IP Office (and physics)
  • Alessandro Sanchini – Italy; patent attorney at Modiano & Partners
  • Alessandra Sani – Italy/Germany; examiner at the German Patent and Trademark Office (and physics)
  • Andrea Scilletta – Italy; patent attorney at IP Sextant
  • Anthony Soledade – France; examiner at the French IP Office (and physics)
  • Jochen Thomas – Germany; German Patent and Trademark Office
  • Simon Walker – Finland; in-house patent attorney at Nokia

Mechanical engineering

Physics

Update 02.03.2026: We have updated the overview with information regarding new hires and the current capacity of some judges.  

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Author

Mathieu Klos

Editor JUVE Patent
mathieu.klos@juve.de
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