Case Reports

In Rematec v Europe Forestry, the UPC Court of Appeal overturned the Mannheim Local Division’s revocation of the patent and, applying Article 75(1) UPCA, issued a final decision on both validity and infringement despite no infringement finding at first instance. The Court adopted a narrower, description‑led approach to claim interpretation, confirmed the patent’s validity, found infringement, and granted final remedies without referring the case back to the Court of First Instance.

In Syntorr v Arthrex, the UPC Court of Appeal clarified that while litigation insurance is not itself a form of security under Rule 158 RoP, it is a relevant factor when deciding whether security for costs should be ordered at all. By failing to consider the claimant’s insurance policy, the Munich Local Division wrongly exercised its discretion. The Court set aside the €2 million security order and confirmed that insurance can mitigate concerns about cost recoverability.

In Fives v REEL, the Hamburg Local Division of the UPC dismissed a standalone damages action despite prior findings of infringement. Although the UPC was competent to assess damages, the court held that national law applied because the relevant events pre‑dated the UPC’s entry into force. Applying German law, the court found that the claimant had not proven causation or lost profit, highlighting the demanding evidentiary burden for price‑reduction damages claims and the importance of substantiating counterfactual tender outcomes.

In Dyson v Dreame, the UPC Court of Appeal issued its first preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The referral concerns the scope of UPC jurisdiction where a non‑EU manufacturer is sued alongside an EU‑based intermediary acting as an authorised representative, and whether provisional measures may extend to non‑UPC states such as Spain. The decision places important questions about anchor defendants, intermediaries and the UPC’s long‑arm jurisdiction before the CJEU.

In Valeo v Bosch, the Paris Local Division rejected a jurisdictional challenge and confirmed a broad interpretation of Article 33(1)(b) UPCA. The court held that defendants belonging to the same corporate group may be sued together at the local division where one subsidiary is established, without requiring a direct commercial relationship between each defendant and the anchor defendant. It also confirmed that “the same alleged infringement” requires only identity of the infringed patent, even where the disputed products are not strictly identical.

The UPC Court of Appeal has clarified that where jurisdiction is based on Article 7(2) of the Brussels Regulation (place of harm), it is limited to damage occurring within UPC territory. In Keeex v Adobe, the Court set aside the Paris Local Division’s decision to hear infringement claims relating to non‑UPCA states, confirming that broader territorial reach requires satisfaction of the strict conditions under Article 71b(3).

In KeyMed v PR Medical, the Milan Local Division of the Unified Patent Court rejected a preliminary objection seeking to change the language of proceedings from English to Italian under Rule 14.2(b) RoP. Although the defendant was an Italian company and the action was brought before the Italian local division, the court held that the language protection did not apply because the alleged infringement was not confined to Italy.

IMC Créations is a French company specialising in anti-theft systems for vehicles, particularly commercial vehicles. Among other things, it sells locks for the side and rear doors of commercial vehicles. Mul-T-Lock belongs to the Assa Abloy group and specialises in high security locking and access control systems, in particular pick-resistant keys and locks. IMC alleged that Mul-T-Lock’s MPV 1000 padlock infringes its unitary patent EP4153830 and the corresponding Swiss national validation.

The dispute arises out of earlier proceedings between Heraeus Electronics GmbH & Co. KG (claimant) and Vibrantz GmbH (defendant), relating to European Patent No. 3215288. The Munich Local Division issued a substantive decision on 10 October 2025 addressing infringement and a counterclaim for revocation. Among other findings, the court partially revoked the patent in three Contracting Member States and dismissed the infringement action. In its cost decision, the court apportioned 40% of the costs to the defendant and 60% to the claimant.

It was foreseen that the requirements of the Unitary Patent Regulation (1257/2012) might result that old European patent applications (effective filing date before 1 March 2007) could be ineligible for unitary patent protection. The UPC has now confirmed the view of the EPO that this is indeed the case.

The UPC Mannheim Local Division revoked Centripetal’s patent relating to automated cyber‑event analysis, finding the claimed combination of static and machine‑learned algorithms anticipated by prior art (HAWK) and additional amendments lacking inventive step. With the patent invalidated in Germany and France, the infringement claim against Palo Alto Networks was dismissed. An appeal to the UPC Court of Appeal remains possible.

The UPC Munich Local Division invalidated Sanofi’s cabazitaxel patent, finding that Phase III clinical trial disclosures created a reasonable expectation of success—departing from the EPO’s earlier conclusion.

The UPC Court of Appeal’s November 2025 decisions in Amgen v. Sanofi and Meril v. Edwards provide the most comprehensive guidance to date on inventive step, claim construction, sufficiency, added matter, and procedural rules. The Court clarified how the “objective problem” should be formulated, reinforced the need for a clear pointer or motivation for obviousness, and aligned many principles with established EPO and national case law. The judgments also address injunctions, proportionality, costs, competence, and amendment admissibility—making them essential reading for anyone navigating UPC litigation.

Hurom v. NUC UPC-CFI_162/2024 LD Mannheim Decision of 2 October 2025

The ongoing dispute between Apple and Samsung over Apple's Registered Community Designs for its iPad has now entered the UK courts.Darren Smyth's latest IPKat post relates to a decision of Mr Justice...

A Polish law which allowed the sale of unapproved drugs which were cheaper than those approved has been declared contrary to EU law.The decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union is...

In today's IPKat, Darren Smyth analyses the decision in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, Bayer Pharma AG v Genentech Inc, a case which started as an action for a declaration of invalidity of...

In a decision on 22 March in Teva and ors v AstraZeneca concerning a patent on a sustained release formulation of an anti-psychotic drug, Mr Justice Arnold revoked the patent due to obviousness.

Chancellor George Osborne confirmed in his 2012 Budget that the proposed Patent Box scheme will go ahead.When fully phased in, the rate of Corporation Tax on profits attributed to patents will be 10%.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has published the draft version of revised Guidelines for Examination 2012 online.Partner Darren Smyth casts his eye over the draft version in his latest IPKat post.

The first compulsory licence of an Indian patent since the TRIPS regime was implemented in India has been awarded. Although the licence relates to a pharmaceutical product, the grounds on which the...

Following on from his IPKat post about India granting its first compulsory licence, Darren Smyth explores what limitations the TRIPS agreement puts on compulsory licensing in his latest blog.

The first compulsory licence has been granted by the Controller of Patents Mumbai.The application concerns the anti-cancer drug Sorafenib, a patented drug owned by Bayer Corporation.

The subject of today's IPKat post - The Cost of Knowledge - by Darren Smyth concerns a campaign against Elsevier, the publisher of academic journals.

Recent decisions of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO are now updated continuously on the EPO website.In today's IPKat blog, Darren Smyth highlights some noteworthy cases from the first two months of...

SummaryThe Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has confirmed that owning a Community registered design (CRD) does not provide a defence to an infringement action relating to earlier CRDs.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has launched a new patent translation service which uses Google's Translate technology.Reported by partner Darren Smyth via his IPKat blog, the service initially...

Multiple rulings of the CJEU on the SPC Regulation fail to answer questions posed by the national courts, result in greater confusion and give rise to a need for yet more references.

The issues of colour and composition form the basis of the questions referred to the CJEU by the Court of Appeal in this case of Specsavers International Healthcare & ors v Asda Stores Ltd.