Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf dissolves patent senate

Following the departure of Ulrike Voß to the Unified Patent Court, the 15th Civil Senate will no longer have responsibility for patent proceedings. Although the senate will continue to exist, it will take on other tasks.

With effect from 1 June, the composition of the senate will also change in terms of personnel. The two experienced patent judges Andrea Fehre and Lena Gräwe are moving to the 2nd Civil Senate, which is also responsible for patent matters. Andrea Fehre will become deputy chair there.

Only one appeal senate in Düsseldorf

In future, only the 2nd Civil Senate will be responsible for patent cases. It will also take over the ongoing proceedings of the 15th Civil Senate, where only in February, Stephan Fricke had been appointed as the new presiding judge. Fricke had unofficially headed the senate since October, when the former, longstanding presiding judge, Thomas Kühnen, retired.

Stephan Fricke

Fricke also looks back on a long career as patent judge. In 2000, he became deputy presiding judge of the 4th Civil Chamber but moved to the city’s higher regional court in 2002, where he worked alongside Thomas Kühnen in the 2nd Civil Senate between 2008 and 2020.

Fricke was deputy presiding judge at the 2nd Civil Senate for seven years. In 2021, he moved to the 15th Civil Senate as deputy presiding judge where he worked together with Ulrike Voß.

100 percent Unified Patent Court

The changes come as a consequence of the departure of Ulrike Voß to the UPC. Just this week, the court announced that she will be responsible for the second panel of the local division in Munich as presiding judge.

Ulrike Voß

At the same time, Voß is also the presiding judge of the Munich central division. This makes her the only UPC judge to hold two leadership functions. Ulrike Voß is one of the few UPC judges with a full-time position.

It had thus become clear that she would no longer be able to head a patent senate at the Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf.

In addition, experts assume that in future more and more companies will no longer file their complaints with national courts, but with the UPC instead. The reduction in capacity at the national courts is therefore foreseeable.

Bérénice Thom leaves regional court

Changes are also on the horizon at the Düsseldorf Regional Court. Earlier in May, the UPC announced that Daniel Voß, presiding judge of Civil Chamber 4b, is moving to the local chamber in Munich. He will remain active in Düsseldorf with a half-time position.

Bérénice Thom

Bérénice Thom, presiding judge of Civil Chamber 4a, will leave the Regional Court completely on 1 June. Having already worked part-time at the UPC, she is now moving to the Düsseldorf local division full-time. A successor for Civil Chamber 4a has not yet been appointed, but according to a spokesperson will be recruited in the near future. Until then, the chamber’s business will be continued by the deputy presiding judge Maren Knappke.

There will be no changes at the third patent chamber. There Sabine Klepsch is presiding judge. She was previously appointed to a part-time position at the UPC and also heads the Hamburg local division.