Milan steps into London's Shoes to host a Section of the Central Division of the UPC's Court of First Instance

Author Francesco Ungaro Licence CCO 1.0 Deed Source Wikimedia

 

Jane Lambert: 

It is ironic that the government of one of the countries that challenged the unitary patent and the establishment of the Unified Patent Court in Joined Cases C-274/11 and C-295/11, Kingdom of Spain and another v European Commission and others : [2013] EUECJ C-274/11 has just signed an agreement with the Unified Patent Court for Milan to host a section of the Central Division of the Court of First Instance of the Unified Patent Court (see The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation's press release of 26 Jan 2024 Headquarters Agreement signed between Italy and the Unified Patent Court).

Painful though this announcement is for many of us who had been looking forward to practising before a pan-European patent court for the better part of our lives it was an inevitable consequence of the British government's reversal of policy on the Unified Patent Court between 2018 and 2020 (see Jane Lambert Volte-Face on the Unified Patent Court Agreement 29 Feb 2020 NIPC News).  In his capacity as Foreign Secretary the former MP, Boris Johnson, deposited an instrument of ratification of the agreement on World Intellectual Property Day 2018 which was nearly two years after the brexit referendum.  As soon as he became Prime Minister less than 2 years later he withdrew this country from the agreement.

The decision of the Administrative Committee of the Unified Patent Court to change all references to London in the UPC Agreement to references to Milan pursuant to art 87 of the Agreement was taken on 26 June 2023.  The launch of the UPC appears to have been a great success.  According to a report on the caseload of the court dated 1 Feb 2024  the Court of First Instance has received a total number of 217 cases and the Court of Appeal has received 11 appeals.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during UK business hours or send me a message on my contact form.

The Unified Patent Court's First Cases

Helsinki

Author Fileri Licence CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed Source Wik (Wikipedia Commons

Jane Lambert

The Unified Patent Court opened its doors on 1 June 2023 (see The Unified Patent Court Opens Today 1 June 2023).  There have already been proceedings in both of the Central Divisions of the Court of First Instance in Paris and Munich as well as the local divisions in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Helsinki, Milan, Munich and The Hague. There have also been hearings.

One of those hearings was in Helsinki where the court was scheduled to hear an application by the claimant for provisional measures and a preliminary objection from the defendant in an action that the Swiss company AIM Sport Vision AG has brought against Supponor Oy of Finland and others on 21 Sept 2023 (see Upcoming hearing at the UPC Local Division Helsinki posted on 12 Sept 2023).  Readers will recall that AIM Sport Vision AG sued Suppronor Oy in London earlier this year alleging infringement of  EP 3 295 663 B1.   I commented on the trial in Patents - AIM Sport Vision v Supponor on 5 Sept 2023.  According to the presiding judge's order of 28 Aug 2023, AIM Sport Vision complains of infringement of the same patent.

Occado and AutoStore were also against each other in London earlier in the year  (see Autostore Technology AS v Ocado Group Plc and others [2023] EWHC 716 (Pat) (30 March 2023).  I discussed the action in Patents - AutoStore Technology AS v Ocado Group Plc on 16 April 2023 in NIPC Law. Proceedings had been issued by Occado against AutoStore in Milan but these appear to have settled (see the minute of order of 11 Sept 2023).

The proceedings that have taken place so far have ranged from applications for orders for the preservation of evidence to directions for the conduct of the litigations.  They have been conducted in Dutch and Italian as well as English, French and German,  Anyone wishing to read those decisions will find them at "Decisions and Orders" on the Unified Patent Court website,

Readers wishing to discuss this topic may call me on +44 (0)20 7494 5252 during normal office hours or message me through my contact page at all other times.