A guide to the UPC and the UP - Flipbook - Page 244
Assignment of an action in the central division
12-123 Specific rules govern the distribution of actions between the seat of the central division and
its sections. 273 The issue of how cases should be distributed between the sections of the central
division was the subject of extensive discussions in the drafting of the RoP. The RoP set out
the following:
– Where an action involves a single patent having a single classification, the Registry will
allocate the action to the seat or section of the central division appropriate to the
classification of the patent according to Annex II UPCA, reproduced at table 12-1.
The Registry will also assign the action to a panel of judges in accordance with the actiondistribution-scheme established by the presiding judge of the relevant seat or section; 274 and
– Where an action involves more than one patent and the majority have a single classification
appropriate to the seat or a single section of the central division according to Annex II UPCA,
the Registry will allocate the action to the seat or that section of the central division and then
to a panel in accordance with the seat/section’s action-distribution-scheme. Note however
that in view of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and UPCA, cases the subject matter of which
were previously allocated to London have been re-allocated to Paris or Munich pending the
appointment of a replacement section of the central division in Milan. 275
Table 12-1: Annex II to the UPCA
Distribution of Cases within the Central Division 276
LONDON Section
PARIS Seat
(A) Human necessities
(allocated to the Paris seat)
(B) Performing operations,
transporting
(C) Chemistry, metallurgy
(allocated to the Munich seat)
(D) Textiles, paper
MUNICH Section
(F) Mechanical engineering,
lighting, heating, weapons,
blasting
(E) Fixed constructions
(G) Physics
(H) Electricity
12-124 Where none of the above apply, the Registry will assign the action to the panel at the seat or
the section appropriate to the first classification of either the single patent, or where the action
involves more than one patent, the patent first listed in the statement of claim, according to
Annex II UPCA. If the presiding judge of the respective panel does not consider the reference
of the action to be appropriate such presiding judge will instruct the Registry to refer it to the
presiding judge of a panel of either the seat or the other section of the central division as he
or she considers appropriate and where the appropriateness of the re-allocation will also be
considered. If it is not appropriate, that other presiding judge will inform the President of the
Court of First Instance, who will allocate the action to the seat or section of the central division
273
274
275
276
r.17(3) RoP.
r.345(3)RoP. Preferably the actions are distributed according to the date of receipt.
By a decision of the Presidium dated 8 May 2023 human necessities cases are assigned to the seat in Paris and chemistry and
metallurgy cases are assigned to the section in Munich. However, it has been announced that the Italian Government has
agreed with France and Germany to set up a branch of the central division in Milan, but the agreement, at the time of writing,
has not been formalised. See the press release dated 18 May 2023 from Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation https://www.esteri.it/en/sala_stampa/archivionotizie/comunicati/2023/05/tribunale-unico-dei-brevetti-italiaotterra-sezione-distaccata-per-milano/ [Accessed 20 May 2023].
Based on the International Patent Classification of the World Intellectual Property Organisation
(http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en), [Accessed 14 April 2023]. A more detailed list of the subject-matter of
classifications A to H is set out in the Annex to this chapter.
© Bird & Bird LLP | May 2023
A Guide to the UPC and the UP 234
