UPC Presidium confirms presiding judge selection for all divisions

Florence Butin, Edger Brinkman, Sabine Klepsch, Peter Michael Tochtermann, Ulrike Voß, Matthias Zigann. All six judges are renowned in patent circles across Europe; all are probably the best-known names among the 15 presiding judges, which the UPC Presidium yesterday confirmed. In future, all five women and ten men will head the two chambers at the central court, and the local chambers in the member states, respectively.

The UPC Presidium decided who will become presiding judge by written procedure. In October 2022, the Administrative Committee had already announced the names of all judges. However, the latest announcement confirms the lead figures in charge of the court’s various instances. Most of the confirmed presiding judges are also the presiding judges of the local and regional division panels.

Copenhagen still omitted

Sabine Klepsch

Stefan Johansson heads the Stockholm-based Nordic-Baltic regional chamber, the only regional chamber to date, for the UPC states of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Sweden. Here, Johansson won the race against another judicial candidate, Kai Härmand.

Until now, the UPC had staffed many of the local divisions with only one permanent judge, meaning officials did not have to choose between several candidates. This approach was taken to the local divisions in Brussels, Lisbon, Ljubljana, Helsinki and Vienna.

Only one permanent judge position is planned for the local division in Copenhagen. However, because the UPC has not yet filled this position, it has not yet decided on the court’s presiding judge.

Presidium spoilt for choice

The committee had assigned four and two judges to the Paris and Munich central divisions, respectively. However, it chose the most well-known figures as presiding judges for the two cities: Florence Butin, who is also president of the Court of First Instance in Paris, and well-known German patent judge Ulrike Voß. For the Paris local division, the presidium has appointed Camille Lignieres.

Ulrike Voß

On the other hand, the appointment of Ronny Thomas at the Düsseldorf Local Division, comes as a surprise. Thomas’ colleague, Bérénice Thom, had been in the spotlight as presiding judge of the 4a Chamber at the Regional Court Düsseldorf.

Thomas, however, had been appointed as a full-time UPC judge in October, while also being elected to the UPC Presidium.

German judges in competition

Peter Michael Tochtermann is also one of the few full-time UPC judges who is also on the presidium. In Mannheim, he won the race against Holger Kircher – despite Kircher heading his Mannheim Regional Court chamber for considerably longer than Tochtermann.

In Munich, on the other hand, the appointment of Matthias Zigann as the presiding judge of the Munich local division panel over Tobias Pichlmaier is not surprising. Zigann is one of the most high-profile judges concerning UPC issues. Well-known Dutch judge Edger Brinkman was also present at many UPC conferences. He became the preferred choice over Margot Kokke for the local division in The Hague.

Matthias Zigann

The patent community has long considered Sabine Klepsch as the first choice over Hamburg judge Stefan Schilling, who has so far had a low profile in patent law.

Although Klepsch is presiding judge of the 4c patent chamber at the Regional Court Düsseldorf, she was specifically chosen for the Hamburg division.

Waiting for three 

In addition to the position in Copenhagen, two other judgeships are still open at the central divisions. The UPC officials were unable to fill one vacancy each in both Paris and Munich which, according to JUVE Patent information, is likely due to candidates turning down job offers.

At present, the selection procedure for these positions is ongoing. JUVE Patent has learned from UPC circles that the three missing judges will be announced at the end of May.

Furthermore, on 30 May, the UPC will celebrate its opening in a ceremony in Luxembourg, which hosts the seat of the Court of Appeal. The court will then officially begin its work on 1 June. It is expected that the court will receive a number of preliminary injunction applications on the first day, with SEP holders also expected to file numerous suits.

Milan remains an open question

UPC presidium, from left to right: Peter Tochtermann, Camille Lignieres, Axel Jacobi, Alexander Ramsay, Florence Butin, Klaus Grabinski, Ingeborg Simonsson, Ronny Thomas, Rian Kalden ©Unified Patent Court/unified-patent-court.org

According to the published list, Pierluigi Perrotti represents Milan as presiding judge of the city’s local division. However, whether the Italian business metropolis will also be selected for the third seat of the Central Division remains undecided. According to JUVE Patent information, the German and French governments had, in principle, agreed on Milan in March – despite contentions regarding the allocation of competencies.

Discrepancy had emerged regarding whether the IPC classes which the UPC Agreement had previously assigned to London – human necessities (i.e. pharmaceuticals), chemistry, metallurgy – will automatically be transferred to Milan.

A final decision by the Administrative Committee is still pending. Should the UPC countries agree on Milan and a distribution of the classes, the UPC contract would have to be adjusted.

The full list of presiding judges is as follows:

UPC central divisions

• Paris: Florence Butin (also: president of the Court of First instance)
• Munich: Ulrike Voß

UPC local divisions

• Brussels: Samuel Granata
• Düsseldorf: Ronny Thomas (also: UPC Presidium member)
• Hamburg: Sabine Klepsch
• Helsinki: Petri Rinkinen
• Lisbon: Rute Lopes
• Ljubiljana: Mojca Mlakar
• Mannheim: Peter Michael Tochtermann (also: UPC Presidium member)
• Munich: Matthias Zigann
• Milan: Pierluigi Perrotti
• Paris: Camille Lignieres
• The Hague: Edger Brinkman
• Vienna: Walter Schober
• Nordic-Baltic Regional Chamber (Stockholm): Stefan Johansson