UPC appoints new judges as Düsseldorf caseload overtakes Munich for first time

According to an announcement published on the UPC website, the Administrative Committee has appointed two more legally qualified judges to the Court of First Instance. French native Elise Mellier is to join the central division Paris and German Hans-Joachim Weitz the local division Mannheim.

Mellier previously served as a judge at the Judicial Court Paris, where she was a member of the 3rd chamber, which is responsible for IP. In this capacity she sat on the bench in many patent cases, such as the SEP proceedings between Philips and Xiaomi. In September 2022, she left the court and took up a position with the French competition authority. Since July 2023 she is Head of office of the President of the Court of First Instance, Florence Butin.

Weitz took up his appointment on 15 September. The UPC has not yet communicated Mellier’s start date. According to the announcement, both new UPC judges will devote 20% of their working time to their judicial duties. In addition to their judicial functions, they will serve as Heads of the Offices of the President of the Court of First Instance and President of the Court of Appeal respectively.

Earlier this year, the UPC already added five new judges to its ranks and established a second panel at the local division Düsseldorf with Bérénice Thom at the helm. According to JUVE Patent sources, there are no plans to form a second panel in Mannheim.

The Hague and Milan on the rise

As shown by the most recent statistics of the court, the caseload of the local division Düsseldorf has risen substantially and now exceeds that of the local division Munich.

Of the 353 new actions filed at the Courts of First Instance between 1st January and 31st August 2026, a total of 77 cases were filed in Düsseldorf compared to 71 cases in Munich in the same period. The local division Mannheim follows with 55 proceedings in 2026 so far.

Meanwhile, the local division in The Hague has also seen substantial growth in case numbers, now counting 41 proceedings since the beginning of the year. It thus exceedings Hamburg, which has 29 cases. Another local division that is attracting more cases is Milan, where 23 claims were filed in the first eight month of the year.

In the same period, 147 appeals were filed at the Court of Appeal in Luxemburg, 76 of which were in infringement and revocation cases.

While nearly 62% of all proceedings at the first instance are conducted in English, the percentage is even higher at the Court of Appeal, amounting to over 67% of all cases. Infringement actions and counterclaims for revocation over technology involving electricity continue to dominate the field.