Cases at Paris patent chamber decline for first time in years
The number of new patent lawsuits filed at the Paris Judicial Court fell in 2024 for the first time since records began five years ago. This follows a general trend across Europe, with German and UK courts also reporting declining numbers.
7 April 2025 by Konstanze Richter
The Judicial Court in Paris saw 155 new patent lawsuits, representing a 16.7% decrease from the previous year. According to recently published statistics from the court’s 3rd chamber, which handles IP cases, this is down from 186 cases in 2023. Patent disputes now account for 15% of all new IP lawsuits in the 3rd chamber, compared to 18.7% the previous year.
High-profile rulings
The number of cases concluded by judgment or otherwise also fell, from 198 in 2023 to 176 between 1 January and 31 December 2024 — an 11% decrease. Patent cases made up 18% of concluded IP proceedings in 2024, down from 21.5% in 2023.
The 3rd chamber judges handed down several notable judgments, particularly in life sciences. These included pan-European proceedings concerning Bayer’s blockbuster drug Xarelto, Sanofi’s chemotherapy drug Jevtana and an insulin delivery system owned by Insulet.
Revocations in decline
Infringement proceedings continue to dominate, with 79 new lawsuits concerning European patents and 41 newly filed cases concerning French patents. In many of these cases, defendants filed counterclaims for invalidity.
The court recorded only nine newly filed invalidity actions concerning European patents and two concerning French patents. This is down from eleven European patent revocation actions and six French patent revocation actions the previous year. The statistics do not indicate whether patent proprietors in those cases filed infringement counterclaims. At the same time, parties increasingly challenge European patents by filing revocation actions with the UPC central division in Paris.
As of 31 December 2024, the Paris Judicial Court had 185 ongoing patent disputes, including 124 infringement proceedings. This represents an 8.7% decrease from 203 ongoing proceedings on the same day in 2023.
General trend across Europe
After years of continuous growth in new patent lawsuits, the Paris patent chamber — which handles all French national patent proceedings — now follows the general European trend. Both the UK High Court and most German patent chambers recently reported falling case numbers. Only Munich has bucked this trend with a slight increase.
Meanwhile, the UPC continues to see rising case numbers. On 1 April, the European court announced it had received 798 cases since its establishment.
