Breaking: UPC agrees initial central division split

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Breaking: UPC agrees initial central division split

EuropeNASA

Paris and Munich will share London’s lot of UPC central division cases when the court opens on June 1, but there is still no news on Milan

Cases before the Unified Patent Court’s central division will be split between Paris and Munich when the court first opens on June 1, it was announced today, May 16.

The UPC administrative committee has yet to make a final decision on whether Milan will eventually host the third central division seat that was originally assigned to London.

The UK withdrew from the UPC project in 2020, leaving the question of which country would be assigned the third central seat.

Milan has since been confirmed as the only contender, but German, French, and Italian officials are yet to agree on how to divide cases.

Under the UPC Agreement, disputes filed at the central division would have been split between the different countries based on the scope of the patent in question.

Disputes over patents concerning human necessities, chemistry, and metallurgy would have been heard in London.

According to today’s announcement, the Presidium of the UPC, a group of senior judges and the court’s registrar, agreed on May 8 to divide those cases between Paris and Munich initially.

From June 1, disputes falling under human necessities will be heard in Paris while chemistry and metallurgy matters will be assigned to Munich.

Italian politicians have lobbied for a Milan central division to hear all of those disputes. The path looked clear when the Netherlands withdrew its candidacy earlier this year.

But negotiations have since hit a snag.

In February, it emerged that French officials wanted the Paris division to hear any cases involving pharmaceutical patents for which a supplementary protection certificate (SPC) is in effect.

That solution would leave the Milan division with a much less significant share of the caseload than Italian lawyers had originally hoped for.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

The 105-year-old IP firm Wrays and related business Aperture Insight will join Rouse but operate independently
The winners will be revealed during a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on November 6
Three new partners have joined HGF across its offices in Europe, while Carpmaels & Ransford has made UPC-focused hires in Germany
Tarun Gandhi joins us for our ‘Five minutes with’ series to discuss the biggest misconception about IP, the importance of staying curious, and his biggest inspiration
It’s that time of the year for law firms to participate in the research for the Managing IP Awards and IP STARS rankings
Latham & Watkins client CoStar filed an opposition brief against Crexi, arguing that their motion to stay is a distraction from an imminent copyright trial
News of Ultrahuman suing Oura in India and Apple accusing Oppo of trade secret theft were also among the top talking points
The firm has added six practitioners in recent weeks as it takes measured steps to build its IP practice with a focus on trade secrets work
Partners at law firm Silva reveal how their recent geographical indication win in India for Chilean Pisco paves the way for future victories internationally
Lawyers at Finnegan unpick the UK government’s SEP consultation, and offer tips for patent litigators
Gift this article