Interview: Clemens Heusch of Nokia on judges at the UPC

Speaking during the Patent Reform Forum held in Munich on September 9, Heusch, head of European litigation at the telecoms company, said: “The most decisive thing is that we get good judges, because the procedure is only helpful if we get good quality judgments. If they are overturned on appeal, they are not helpful in the end.”

He added that while there are still concerns about issues such as procedural rules, IT and logistics, “with good judges we will get this running”.

Several hundred legal and technical judges have been identified already, but Heusch said it is vital to ensure the best ones are chosen: “I’m a little bit concerned that we have too many political factors to take into account, like nationality. I don’t care whether the judge is from England, France, Germany or Portugal as long as he or she is good.”

He also said he expects the Unitary Patent and UPC to be widely used after a warm-up phase, noting that it offers attractions such as pan-European injunctions to patentees.

Watch the full interview here:

See all the interviews from Munich on Managing IP's YouTube channel. Note that all speakers are talking in a personal capacity, and their views are not necessarily those of their employers or clients.