As of January 1, 2025, 635 cases had been registered, an increase of 10% in recent weeks. Of these 700 ongoing proceedings, 251 are infringement actions and 69 requests for provisional measures.
Most of the infringement actions are filed with the local divisions in Germany, with Munich in the lead (82 cases), followed by Düsseldorf (55) and Mannheim (34). The local division in Paris has registered 14 infringement actions, just ahead of the local division in Milan (13) and that in The Hague. Other cases have been registered in Copenhagen (3), Brussels (2) and Vienna (2). As for the central divisions in Paris and Milan and the local divisions in Helsinki and Lisbon, they each have one case pending.
In addition, 259 counterclaims for invalidity have been filed with the local and regional divisions. This figure is logical, because until recently, each defendant in an infringement case had to submit an individual application for invalidity. Thus, these 259 applications were filed in response to only 140 separate infringement actions.
Regarding nullity actions as a main action, the central division in Paris has the highest number of cases (40), followed by Munich (8) and Milan (7).
The scale of the number of ongoing proceedings, while European patent holders can still bring their actions before national courts and the Unified Patent Court was set up less than 2 years ago, shows that it will surely become an important place in the resolution of global patent disputes and should contribute to Europe’s influence in the world.
For more details: https://www.unified-patent-court.org/sites/default/files/upc_documents/Case%20load%20of%20the%20Court_end%20January_04022025.pdf
