UPC race across Europe
Just over 100 days after the UPC opened its doors, JUVE Patent takes a sideways glance at the technical problems which plagued the court on its first day of operations. This led to a race across Europe, as lawyers fought to file hard copies of their actions in time.
11 September 2023 by Christina Schulze
Welcome to the everyday small stuff, UPC!
“Your file could not be uploaded” says the error message, which keeps popping up in the UPC CMS. Until finally, a partner sends their associate to the airport with a stack of papers in a briefcase.
This is how the lawsuit makes its long journey from North-Rhine Westphalia to the Munich UPC local division: from the plaintiff’s lawyer’s computer, to the printer, into the taxi to Düsseldorf airport, then high into the air on the plane to Munich. Finally, the associate comes running up the steps, panting, ready to deliver the paper by hand to the Munich court. Even in this day and age, a high-speed fibre optic cable just won’t cut it.
The year is 2023, and lawyers and patent attorneys are no stranger to AI. But even so, filing lawsuits at Europe’s newest court doesn’t always run smoothly. The system’s search function leaves some UPC representatives baffled. Having lost so much time trying to login, lawyers are frustrated that they cannot charge their clients at triple-digit hourly rates.
What has become of the big dreams of the UPC founders over the past 48 years? Europe-wide injunctive relief, uniform jurisdiction for the most important European markets, working in teams that are not only interdisciplinary, but actually international – all this has become reality. Even if many a founding father will not live to see it play out.
But there is no growing up without teething problems. And so it is almost reassuring that the first hurdles that have left many a lawyer grumbling in the corridors is not the national character of the judges or colleagues, but merely technical imperfection. Anyone who navigated their first clicks in the digital space via Windows will be familiar with these.
If only it weren’t for human imperfection – especially in communication. Because in the end, the associate very nearly failed to get the file to the Munich local division in time. The court’s opening hours were actually shorter than its website stated. It was just lucky that the associate set foot on the stairs at the same time as the court’s employees were about to leave the building.
A blessing in disguise. One thing is clear: When we think about the launch of the UPC in years to come, these IT problems will be just a funny anecdote.
