Reliability, speed, and increased cost-effectiveness in trials are a few advantages of the recently created European Unified Patent Court (UPC), as highlighted by the President of the Court of Appeal at the UPC, Klaus Grabinski, and patent attorney Howard Read. They discussed the court’s performance during Panel 8 on the third day of the Congress, moderated by lawyer Letícia Provedel.
Grabinski explained that the UPC was established in June this year and handles patent cases from 17 European countries, encompassing three-quarters of the continent’s GDP. It comprises a Court of First Instance, an Appeals Court in Luxembourg, an Arbitration and Mediation Center, and a common registry. The court has judges with both legal and technical backgrounds. Local divisions can request the inclusion of an additional judge with technical expertise. Before the court’s establishment, managing litigation procedures involving the same patent across multiple countries required processing in various courts. “The advantage now is that we have a single office covering all of Europe,” stated Grabinski.
In his presentation, Read showcased several decisions of the UPC and noted that the court, due to its reliability, is being used as a forum for collective negotiation in settling disputes, some involving hundreds of millions of euros. “The UPC is already known for its role in mediating patent disputes, which is facilitated by concentrating various processes from different countries in a single location,” emphasized the attorney.
