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.
