Alexander Ramsay: “The new CMS will be independent of the EPO”
Since the very beginning, the UPC's case management system has been a bone of contention for users. In July the court announced that it will enter into a cooperation with the European Patent Office regarding the development of a new CMS. JUVE Patent asked registrar Alexander Ramsay about the planned cooperation and the costs of the new system.
15 August 2024 by Konstanze Richter
JUVE Patent: The Unified Patent Court has announced it will cooperate with the European Patent Office for the development of a new case management system. Will the new CMS be one integrated tool for both EPO and UPC or two tools that are linked?
Alexander Ramsay: There will not be one integrated tool for both organisations. The Unified Patent Court will have its own tool, independent of that of the European Patent Office.
There are concerns in the market that a too close cooperation between the UPC and the EPO regarding the CMS could pose a risk to the independence of the UPC. What is your stance on this and how will you mitigate it?
It is a joint cooperation between two independent international organisations with mutual benefit and to the benefit of the users of the European patent system. Once developed, the CMS will be fully under the control of the UPC.
“Once developed, the CMS will be fully under the control of the UPC”
What are the most important points that need to be considered during the development of the new system?
The system obviously needs to cater for the court’s and the users’ needs and at the same time be flexible and easy to adapt and develop further.
Can you tell us about the costs of such a system? What will the budget be and who will bear the cost?
I respectfully decline to comment on the costs of the system.
Will the existing EPO system be the benchmark?
The new system will benefit from the experience of the EPO and the different modules already developed by the EPO, obviously adapted to fit the needs of the court. Therefore users of the system would, to some extent, experience a touch and feel that is similar to what they are used to from operating the EPO system.
Nevertheless, the system’s primary goal will be to cater to the need of the court and its users.
“The court will stop using the existing CMS”
Why not simply use the current EPO tool and extend it to fit the needs of the UPC?
The development starts from modules already in use at the EPO and in the European Patent Network. The needs of the court are, however, different from the needs of a granting authority and therefore further development is needed and, in certain cases, the creation of new functionalities.
What will happen to the existing CMS? Will it simply be discarded?
Once the new system is ready to go into production, the court will stop using the existing CMS.
An entirely new system must be developed from scratch – is the goal to have it up and running by mid-2025 realistic?
Yes, both organisations are committed to developing the system in accordance with the published time-plan.
How do you plan to train judges, staff and lawyers/patent attorneys to use the new system?
The roll out of the system will obviously require a training effort. It needs to be elaborated based on the appreciated needs. It is too early to comment on it in detail.
The interview was conducted by Konstanze Richter.
