A guide to the UPC and the UP - Flipbook - Page 211
Introduction
12-01 Proceedings before the Court begin with the written procedure and are initiated by the claimant
lodging the originating pleadings at the Registry and paying the relevant Court fee. The Registry
will examine the pleadings to confirm that the relevant formalities are met. This may be
followed by a preliminary objection from the defendant before the defence is lodged and
further pleadings are then exchanged as prescribed by the RoP.
12-02 A few points should be noted at the outset:
– The procedure is designed to be fast: the written procedure takes between five to nine
months to complete, depending upon the type of action;
– Cases are front-loaded: for example, the parties are expected to lodge a detailed SoC and
SoD containing, where available, the evidence relied upon;
– The written procedure is highly prescriptive: the RoP set out in considerable detail the timing
of filings, the information to be provided by each party at each stage, the fees to be paid and
the overall procedure to be followed for each type of action;
– All pleadings and other documents are to be lodged at the Registry in electronic form, via the
Court’s Case Management System at https://cms.unified-patent-court.org/login. A user must
register their details to create an account and then complete the forms required for the
applicable procedure. Service of pleadings is also carried out, where possible electronically,
by the Registry; and
– The judge-rapporteur is responsible for case management during the written procedure and
will make decisions, for example, on confidentiality of documents, translations, whether one
or other party should be ordered to produce evidence and whether there should be further
exchanges of pleadings before closure of the written proceedings and the start of the
interim proceedings.
12-03 This chapter describes the written procedure for the following actions:
– Preliminary objections;
– Infringement actions, including counterclaims for revocation and applications to amend the
patent (see the Annex to chapter 11 for the procedural timeline);
– Actions for DNIs (see the Annex to chapter 11 for the procedural timeline); and
– Revocation actions, including counterclaims for infringement and actions to amend the
patent (see the Annex to chapter 11 for the procedural timeline).
but before doing so, the procedure for making a preliminary objection, a step common to each
action, is described.
© Bird & Bird LLP | May 2023
A Guide to the UPC and the UP 201
