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JUVE Patent UPC news ticker

UPC news ticker

JUVE Patent brings you the latest news on the development of the UPC, as well as an overview of our previous coverage on the most important stages in the creation of the first European civil court.

May 2023

Administrative Committee publishes final Code of Conduct

The Administrative Committee has now published the final version of the Code of Conduct for UPC judges. It will supplement the existing rules on judicial independence in the UPC contract. The key points are laid down in article 4 (3) of the code stating technically qualified UPC judges cannot also represent clients before the UPC as lawyers. Furthermore, they may not advise on any pending UPC cases or prepare UPC lawsuits. This regulation aims to remove concerns that the judges cannot act independently, however it has caused considerable consternation among some of the selected judges concerning the compatibility of their judicial role with their work as a lawyer. The strict rules may lead some patent attorneys working at companies or law firms to resign as UPC judges.

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UPC offers CMS 'Entry Into Force' practice period

From 29 May until the foreseeable future, the UPC is offering a dedicated CMS platform to allow external users to practice Entry Into Force (EIF) functionalities. According to the UPC website, the test environment will be the same as the current sunrise practice and will only ensure a passive practice with limited interactions with external users and the court. As UPC staff is currently busy with EIF preparation, users are asked to limit their requests.

April 2023

Presiding judges for UPC local and central divisions confirmed

The UPC has announced the final list of 15 presiding judges for the new court's chambers and corresponding judicial panels. The UPC Presidium decided who will become presiding judge by written procedure. In future, five women and ten men will head the two chambers at the central court, and the local chambers in the member states, respectively. While there are no surprises among the names, there is still no confirmation of whether Milan is to become the third seat of the Unified Patent Court's Central Division.

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March 2023

UPC to recruit two trilingual translators to verify judgments

The UPC has put out a call for two trilingual translators to proofread UPC decisions. According to the job advertisements listed on the UPC website candidates are required to have excellent reading, writing and speaking skills in English, German and French. They will be based in Luxembourg and report to the president of the Court of Appeal. Furthermore, they will be expected to translate decisions into each of the three languages. This feeds into recent speculation regarding which languages local and regional courts will choose for UPC proceedings. While the UPC website says that, "States may designate one or more of the official languages of the European Patent Office (English, French or German) as the language of proceedings of their local or regional division", on 17 March Tilmann Müller-Stoy, partner at Bardehle Pagenberg, wrote on LinkedIn that there are to be discussions in Germany about whether to offer English as a language for UPC proceedings at German local divisions.

EPO and European Commission sign arrangement on unitary patents

According to the European Patent Court website, the EPO President António Campinos and the European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton have signed a working arrangement on European patents with unitary effect. The arrangement will enable the two institutions to cooperate, share data and exchange information with regards to the unitary patent system, with the aim of encouraging SMEs to use the system.

UPC Sunrise Period begins

The Unified Patent Court has today entered its Sunrise Period. In practice, potential users now have three months before the court begins operation to work with its opt-out system, as well as to register as a UPC representative. According to the UPC announcement, the latter covers lawyers authorised to practice before a court of a contracting member state (Article 48(1) UPCA) and European patent attorneys entitled to act as professional representatives before the EPO, and who have appropriate qualifications as per Article 48(2) UPCA and the EPLC rules. From today, users will also have access to the court’s CMS. Originally, the UPC had forecast the Sunrise Period to begin on 1 January 2023, to coincide with the start of the new year. However, in December 2022 it delayed this until the 1 March, citing the need to allow additional time for users to implement authentication for the case management system. But the delay has also led to the postponement of the UPC launch, which is now scheduled for 1 June 2023. The committee had originally scheduled this for 1 April 2023.

February 2023

Germany ratifies UPC Agreement

Germany has formally deposited its instrument of ratification of the UPC Agreement with the Council of the European Union, becoming the 17th member state to do so. The Unified Patent Court and the Unitary Patent can now officially begin on 1 June 2023, with parties also able to file opt-outs for their patents from 1 March.

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Administrative Committee confirms 1 June for UPC start

The official start date for the Unified Patent Court remains 1 June 2023. This was apparently decided by the UPC member states last Wednesday at the Administrative Committee meeting in Luxembourg. "There is consensus among the member states that the start of the Unified Patent Court can take place on June 1," confirmed Johannes Karcher, Acting Chair of the Administrative Committee. Now Germany has to deposit its instrument of ratification in Brussels by March 1 at the latest. However, Karcher did not confirm to JUVE Patent whether the UPC states have agreed on Milan as the third seat of the Central Division. Several well-informed sources have reported that the states gave the go-ahead to Milan on Wednesday and that this is to become effective at the UPC start date. Milan is currently the only contender to succeed the former London divisions and, according to JUVE Patent information, has the support of Germany, among others.

UPC optimises API opt-out process

The Unified Patent Court has made changes to its case management system in order to optimise the API opt-out process for external users. This was announced on the UPC website yesterday. Feedback from the initial sunrise practice period has led the UPC to revise the system so as to enable faster repsonse times. Users will be able to test the revised API opt-out process during the second sunrise practice period, which shall run from 13th February and has been extended until the end of March. The funtion will be officially implemented on 1 March, as the sunrise period begins, and will run in parallel to the test version.

UPC users to practice CMS functionalities ahead of sunrise period

In just under one month, the UPC will finally launch its sunrise period. Ahead of this, it has announced that between 13 and 24 February, the court’s users can practice the functionalities of the CMS which will be available during the sunrise period. In practice, the functionalities allow users to undertake tasks such as opting their patents out of the UPC’s jurisdiction, although the upcoming practice period focuses solely on the system’s IT infrastructure. As such, users will be able to familiarise themselves with how the systems works, as well as its “business and legal requirements”. According to the UPC news release, “the environment is a copy of the CMS production environment that will be launched when the Sunrise period starts”. Any user wishing to access the test system must use a double authentication. The UPC has provided a link, through which users can login from 13 February to begin their practice run.

January 2023

Alexander Ramsay named as first UPC registrar

The Unified Patent Court has confirmed that former chairman Alexander Ramsay has assumed the role of registrar, with former German Ministry of Justice lawyer Axel Jacobi taking on the deputy registrar position. The announcement came during advanced training for UPC judges in Budapest. Ramsay is a well-known figure on the UPC circuit, having been involved in the preparations since 2008 and eventually becoming chairman of the Administrative Committee. Axel Jacobi was previously an employee of the German Federal Ministry of Justice, where he worked in the patent law unit under current deputy chair Johannes Karcher.

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December 2022

Administrative Committee seeks three more UPC judges

In mid-November, the Administrative Committee advertised three additional positions that could not be filled in the first round. According to JUVE Patent information, this was mainly due to candidates rejecting job offers. Two positions at the Central Division of the Court of First Instance have now been advertised. A legally qualified judge is to serve in Paris in a 20% role. A legally qualified judge is being sought for a full-time position in Munich. Additionally, a legally qualified judge is being sought for the local division in Copenhagen, also for a 20% role. All positions are for six-year terms and begin on April 1. However, it is not clear at this time whether the court's preparations will be completed by then. The application deadline is 9 January 2023. The advertisements also provide financial details for the UPC judgeships. The gross monthly salary of a full-time judge at the Court of First Instance is €18,089, approximately a net monthly salary of €11,000.

November 2022

UPC and EPO sign data-exchange agreement

EPO president António Campinos and president of the UPC’s Court of Appeal Klaus Grabinksi have signed an agreement on the exchange of data between the European Patent Office and the Unified Patent Court. The agreement is set to facilitate data exchange between the two institutions' patent registers. Furthermore, the agreement shall enable the EPO to potentially provide operational support to the UPC for training purposes.

Alexander Ramsay steps down as UPC Administrative Committee chair

The long-time chairman of the Preparatory and Administrative Committees, Alexander Ramsay, has resigned from his position at the Unified Patent Court. The Swedish native is once again concentrating on his duties as national judge. It is not clear yet whether the UPC is looking for a successor.

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Austrian judge Walter Schober could oversee in German UPC cases

The Unified Patent Court's Administrative Committee has appointed Walter Schober as a judge for its Vienna local division. Schober is currently a judge at Vienna Higher Regional Court and is responsible, among other things, for patent cases in Senate 33.

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October 2022

UPC announces launch of new website

According to an announcement on the Unified Patent Court's website, a new more user-friendly version is to be launched on 7 November. The new website will contain information regarding the UPC's activities, such as legal documents, official communications, representatives and job vacancies. Furthermore, from November it will feature information on the court's judges. However, this is at odds with a roadmap published on 6 October, in which the UPC Preparatory Committee laid out its intention to finalise the selection of legal and technical judges before 19 October. UPC Administrative Committee chair Alexander Ramsay told JUVE Patent the Committee intends to announce the judges before the launch of the new website. Once the new UPC website, which will retain its current URL, launches in November, further content will be added during the court's Sunrise Period from January, followed by an update once the UPCA enters into force in April.

UPC technical judge training begins in Paris

The first phase of judicial training for the Unified Patent Court began last week and over the weekend, with around 50 soon-to-be technical judges descending on the Judicial Court in Paris. The programme, which was organised by the Center for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI), involved background in areas such as judgecraft and patent law, as well as a mock trial. Established figures such as French first instance patent judge Nathalie Sabotier, and German Federal Court of Justice judge Klaus Grabinski, among others, led sessions for the candidates.

UPC team confirms imminent selection of judges

The UPC Preparatory Committee has published an implementation roadmap confirming that it will announce its selection of judges next week and into the following week (10-19 October). Confirmation comes amid rising intrigue in the European patent community – initially, the judges list was to be announced at the end of September, detailing the 90 full- and part-time judges who will preside over the court's instances. The roadmap also sets out that the UPC Agreement is currently planned for 1 April 2023, as well as detailing when it expects German ratification to be complete, the start of the sunrise period, and recruitment of judicial and administrative staff.

September 2022

UPC still aiming for first quarter 2023 launch

During this year's AIPPI World Congress in San Francisco, it was speculated that the UPC launch has been postponed to the second quarter of 2023. However, those responsible for the new court are still aiming for a launch in the first quarter of 2023. UPC Administrative Committee chair Alexander Ramsay confirmed this to JUVE Patent and denied any further delay to the court’s start. However, it remains likely that its doors will open towards the end of this period, rather than at the beginning of the year.