UPC Administrative Committee publishes final judges list
The UPC Administrative Committee has announced the total list of its 85 judges, including 34 legally qualified and 51 technically qualified individuals. In doing so, the committee has clarified one of the most important questions in the preparation for the new court. Klaus Grabinski will lead as president of the Court of Appeal, while Florence Butin takes on the role of president of the Court of First Instance.
19 October 2022 by Mathieu Klos
After months of speculations, the UPC Administrative Committee has finally announced its list of legally and technically qualified judges ©JUVE Verlag
Patent experts in every jurisdiction have eagerly awaited the Administrative Committee’s publication of the final Unified Patent Court judges list. Experts from law firms and companies want to see as many individuals with experience in patent litigation as possible presiding over UPC cases. After all, it is expected that the judges will manage the proceedings competently while delivering strong judgments.
Now the UPC Administrative Committee has announced the names of 34 legal and 51 technical judges, the majority of whom are very familiar with patent litigation.
UPC announcement
Among the names are such well-known patent greats as Ulrike Voß, Klaus Grabinski and Matthias Zigann from Germany, Rian Kalden and Edger Brinkman from the Netherlands, and Florence Butin and and Mélanie Bessaud from France. In addition, many others on the list already preside over patent cases at specialised patent courts in UPC member states. Some also work for the Boards of Appeal at the European Patent Office.
Furthermore, the UPC has clarified that the court will be led by Klaus Grabinski as president of the Court of Appeal, and by Florence Butin as president of the Court of First Instance. Two Court of Appeal judges, Rian Kalden and Ms Ingeborg Simonsson, and three judges from the Court of First Instance, Camille Lignieres, Ronny Thomas and Peter Tochtermann complete the Presidium. Additionally, the committee has elected Rian Kalden as presiding judge of the second panel of the Court of Appeal.
According to the announcement, the Presidium will take up its duties in advance of the start of operations of the court.
The full list is as follows:
UPC legally qualified judges
UPC Court of Appeal
Klaus Grabinski
Patricia Rombach
Françoise Barutel
Peter Blok
Rian Kalden
Emanuela Germano
Ingeborg Simonsson
UPC Central Division Courts of First Instance
Central Division, Paris
Florence Butin
Paolo Catallozzi
Maximilian Haedicke
Tatyana Zhilova
Plus one post to be filled before start of UPC operations
Central Division, Munich
Mélanie Bessaud
Ulrike Voß
Plus one post to be filled before start of UPC operations
UPC local divisions, Courts of First Instance
Local division, Vienna
Walter Schober
Local division, Brussels
Samuel Granata
Local division, Copenhagen
Post to be filled before start of UPC operations
Local division, Helsinki
Petri Rinkinen
Local division, Paris
Carine Gillet
Camille Lignieres
Local division, Düsseldorf
Bérénice Thom
Ronny Thomas
Local division, Hamburg
Sabine Klepsch
Stefan Schilling
Local division, Mannheim
Holger Kircher
Peter Michael Tochtermann
Local division, Munich
Tobias Pichlmaier
Matthias Zigann
Local division, Milan
Pierluigi Perrotti
Alima Zana
Local division, The Hague
Edger Brinkman
Margot Kokke
Local division, Lisbon
Rute Lopes
Local division, Ljubljana
Mojca Mlakar
Nordic-Baltic Regional Division (EE, LT, LV, SE):
Kai Härmand
Stefan Johansson
UPC technically qualified judges
Biotechnology
Arwed Andreas Burrichter
Eric Enderlin
Rainer Friedrich
Paolo Gerli
Krister Karlsson
András Kupecz
Roman Maksymiw
Cornelis Schüller
Chemistry and pharmaceutics
Michael Alt
Kirsikka Etuaho
Renaud Fulconis
Rudi Goedeweeck
John Meidahl Petersen
Stefanie Parchmann
Laure Sarlin
Casper Struve
Steen Wadskov-Hansen
Carola Wagner
Electricity
Pascal Attali
Eric Augarde
Bertrand Cochet (take up of duties as of 1 Nov 2023)
Grégoire Desrousseaux
Alain Dumont
Dennis Kretschmann
Alessandro Sanchini
Andrea Scilletta
Simon Walker
Mechanical engineering
Michel Abello
Uwe Ausfelder
Koen Callewaert
Giorgio Checcacci
Paolo Ernesto Crippa
Claus Elmeros
Frédéric Gaillarde
Bernard Christiaan Ledeboer
Elisabetta Papa
Martin Schmidt
Uwe Schwengelbeck
Max Tilmann
Marie-Paule Vandeberg
Patrice Vidon
Pascal Lucien Pierre Weber
Stefan Wilhelm
Physics
Michael Fleuchaus
Anders Max Hansson
Ulrike Keltsch
Gérard Myon
Dörte Otten-Dünnweber
Andrea Perronace
Christoph Dominik Schober
Patrik Rydman
Start in early 2023
According to the Administrative Committee’s current plan, the UPC will start its work at the end of the first quarter of 2023. At that time, those appointed will deliver justice at the local and regional chambers in the member states. Some will also preside over the central court in Paris and Munich, respectively.
While five judges will staff the Court of Appeal in Luxembourg, only a few will be employed full-time. The majority of UPC judges will work part-time, equal to around 50% or 20% of their work time. (Co-author: Amy Sandys)
