The ‘long-arm’ of the Unified Patent Court – New developments in European cross-border patent litigation, AIPLA Chemical Practice Chronicles Newsletter, Volume 13 Issue 1 2025

The jurisdictional reach of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) was a widely and controversially discussed topic from the outset. Some practitioners took the view that the UPC also benefits from the so-called ‘long-arm’ jurisdiction, meaning the court being able to impose remedies relating to acts of infringement of the national parts of European patents in countries that are not in the European Union (EU) but are members of the European Patent Convention (EPC). This could apply for example to countries such as Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK.
In its landmark decision Fujifilm v Kodak, the Düsseldorf Local Division of the UPC ruled that it also has jurisdiction over infringement actions concerning the UK part of a European patent.

In this article, we explain the background to and potential impact of this judgment and will comment on the most recent decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in BSH Hausgeräte vs. Electrolux, which ‘confirms’ the Düsseldorf approach and thus the greater powers of the UPC, but also expands on it with respect to national courts and patents in non-EU countries.

To the Spring 2025 AIPLA Chemical Practice Chronicles

作者

Dr. Ulrike Herr

Partner

German Patent Attorney

European Patent Attorney

UPC Representative

Chemist

Heike Röder-Hitschke

Counsel

Attorney-at-law

Certified IP Lawyer

UPC Representative

LL.M. "International Studies in Intellectual Property Law“