Reshuffle at Düsseldorf Regional Court as Daniel Voß moves to UPC full-time

From 1 July, Daniel Voß, who presides over Düsseldorf Regional Court’s Chamber 4b on a part-time basis, will move to the UPC’s Munich local division full-time. A court spokesperson confirmed to JUVE Patent that Carsten Haase will take over as presiding judge of Chamber 4b.

Daniel Voß

Haase is currently presiding judge of Chamber 4c. He assumed this position after the previous presiding judge Sabine Klepsch also transitioned from part-time to full-time at the Hamburg local division.

Düsseldorf Regional Court has announced that the presidium intends to appoint Haase as presiding judge of Civil Chamber 4b when Voß departs.

Falling case numbers in Düsseldorf

The court also announced that initial forecasts for 2025 estimate around 120 newly filed patent actions. This would represent a further drastic drop in case numbers by over 40% compared to the previous year. In 2024, Düsseldorf recorded 201 new cases. In 2022, before the launch of the UPC, the court received 373 new patent actions.

It is therefore possible that one of the three patent chambers will close in the long term. The spokesperson for Düsseldorf Regional Court said that no new patent actions will be assigned to Civil Chamber 4c in future. According to JUVE Patent sources, the proceedings currently pending there will be concluded under Haase’s leadership.

Some complex proceedings pending before Chamber 4c have already reached an amicable end or are expected to do so soon. For example, MU Ionics and CATL recently settled their dispute. Meanwhile, an announcement from BioNTech last week that it will take over CureVac indicates the pending proceedings between the two companies may also soon come to an end. However, the hearing is still set to take place on 1 July.

Future of 4c uncertain

The press officer has not yet confirmed any specific plans to close Chamber 4c. “Whether and in what form the patent chambers will continue to exist and how they will be staffed and with what proportions of manpower is for the Presidium to consider and decide at the end of the financial year on the basis of the actual figures then available,” they said.

There are three civil chambers that deal with patent disputes at Düsseldorf Regional Court. According to the court, Tilmann Büttner has headed Chamber 4a since mid-2024. The panel also includes judges Hammans and Gspandl. In future, Carsten Haase will preside over Chambers 4b and 4c. The panel of the former also includes Stephan Janich and judge Schröder, while Janich and Gspandl also serve as judges on the panel at Chamber 4c.