{"id":12248,"date":"2026-06-17T14:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bdl-ip.com\/?p=12248"},"modified":"2026-06-17T16:44:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:44:54","slug":"the-upc-turns-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bdl-ip.com\/en\/the-upc-turns-three\/","title":{"rendered":"The UPC turns three!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) opened its doors on 1 June 2023<\/strong> with the ambitious aim of handling European patent litigation (validity and infringement) at European level with a strong emphasis on speed.<\/p>\n

A system embraced by users<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The UPC\u2019s activity<\/a> saw significant growth in 2025, with 266 infringement actions initiated, compared to 239 in 2024, and more than 450 decisions handed down. The number of judges has recently been increased accordingly with the creation of a third panel within the Court of Appeal (CoA) and additional panels within the local divisions in Munich and D\u00fcsseldorf. The UPC now has nearly 130 judges with legal and technical expertise.<\/p>\n

The wave of opt-outs observed during the system\u2019s launch period (530,000 opt-outs in the second quarter of 2023) has not continued. We are now seeing a steady rate of around 3,800 opt-outs filed per month, or approximately 45,000 per year. Compared with the 120,000 European patents granted in 2025, this suggests a continuing but still relatively minority desire to opt out of the UPC\u2019s jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

A system used internationally<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

English has gradually established itself as the dominant language of litigation. While German was initially almost as widely used as English, the gap has now widened significantly. In 2025, English was the language of the proceedings in 67% of infringement actions (compared with 30% for German) and in 59% of revocation actions (compared with 28% for German). This trend reflects the international nature of disputes brought before the UPC and facilitates access to the court for non-European parties.<\/p>\n

US and European companies are the most active in litigation before the UPC, but there is also a significant presence of Asian parties, particularly from China, Japan and Korea.<\/p>\n

Undeniable operational efficiency<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The system currently covers 18 Member States of the European Union (EU), representing a market of 370 million people, larger than that of the United States.<\/p>\n

The target of holding a final hearing within 12 months has generally been met and is one of the key factors contributing to the system\u2019s attractiveness, alongside, of course, the judges\u2019 reputation and recognised professionalism. At first instance, decisions are handed down within six weeks of the hearing (meaning a total timeframe of approximately 12 to 14 months to obtain a decision on the merits), whilst on appeal the timeframe can range from two to four months.<\/p>\n

The CoA\u2019s first decisions<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The CoA has already handed down several landmark decisions on key issues.<\/p>\n

In particular, it has established key principles for interpreting claims<\/a>, clarified the conditions for granting interim measures<\/a>, particularly regarding urgency and the likelihood of success of the infringement action, and clarified the approach to assessing inventive step<\/a>, as well as\u00a0 the interaction between the initiation of a national action<\/a> and the withdrawal of an opt-out. The CoA has also just handed down an important decision on \u2018long-arm jurisdiction<\/a>\u2019, confirming that, in certain circumstances, the UPC\u2019s jurisdiction may extend to acts of infringement concerning states outside its territory, notably the United Kingdom. The CoA\u2019s position on infringement by equivalence remains eagerly awaited, as this issue has already given rise to several interesting decisions by the local divisions.<\/p>\n

Three years after its launch, the UPC has established itself as a credible and leading jurisdiction for patent litigation. It has also recently set up the Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre (PMAC) to offer, within the same institution, an alternative dispute resolution mechanism.<\/p>\n

The next challenge for the UPC now appears to be ensuring that the system remains attractive not only to users but also to states, particularly those in the European Union which may be inclined to join the UPC system, notably by ensuring a fair distribution of cases across the divisions of this institution, which is intended to eventually become the sole court with jurisdiction over European patents.<\/p>\n

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The Unified Patent Court (UPC) opened its doors on 1 June 2023 with the ambitious aim of handling European patent litigation (validity and infringement) at European level with a strong emphasis on speed. A system embraced by users The UPC\u2019s activity saw significant growth in 2025, with 266 infringement actions initiated, compared to 239 in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ip-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe UPC turns three! - BDL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bdl-ip.com\/en\/the-upc-turns-three\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The UPC turns three! - BDL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Unified Patent Court (UPC) opened its doors on 1 June 2023 with the ambitious aim of handling European patent litigation (validity and infringement) at European level with a strong emphasis on speed. 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