The Unified Patent Court is a court common to 18 EU Member States and offers a uniform and efficient system for patent litigation at European level. Creating such system requires clear and comprehensive procedural rules. Such rules are to be found foremost in the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, the Statute of the Unified Patent Court, and the extensive Rules of Procedure. Understanding and navigating through the many rules is challenging, not least because the Court is in its infancy but also because national procedural laws played a key role in the process of creating a European system.
This Article-by-Article Commentary explains the procedure of the Unified Patent Court against the framework of the provisions of the Agreement, drawing on the corresponding Rules of Procedure and Statute. In light of the role played by national laws, comparative insights indicate possible directions the UPC may take in future cases.
Christoph Augenstein, Sabine Agé and Alex Wilson are highly experienced practitioners and litigators in patent law. The authors are experienced practitioners specialised in patent law.
Forty years after the first discussions began with a view to creating a single European patent, 25 EU Member States (with the exception of Italy, Spain and Croatia) approved three instruments creating a European Patent with unitary effect. One of the instruments is the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, signed on 19 February 2013. The Agreement provides for a 'Unified Patent Court' (UPC) as a single court consisting of a Court of First Instance and a Court of Appeal. The court will have exclusive jurisdiction both in infringement and revocation proceedings. By this, the new court system provides a less complex and less expensive alternative to the current situation where patent cases have to be tried in each EU Member State separately.
This commentary is focussed on the procedure of the Unitary Patent Court, and covers:
- A. Overview
- B. Infringement and defences
- C. Proceedings and the UPC
Part I. Ch. I-III, including Statutes of the UPC
Part II. Financial provisions
Part III. Ch. I. General provisions Ch. II. Languages of proceedings Ch. III. Proceedings before the Court Ch. IV. Powers of the Court Ch. V. Appeals Ch. VI. Decisions Part IIIa. Implementation and operation of Agreement
The general editors and authors are experienced patent specialists from the UK, France and Germany, working for renowned law practices: Sabine Agé, Christof Augenstein, Matthias Brandi-Dohrn, Emmanuel Gougé, Andreas Haberl, Alexander Haertel, Miriam Kiefer, Tim Powell, Konstantin Schallmoser, Tim Whitfield, and Alex Wilson.
