Unified Patent Court
The Unified Patent Court provides an unprecedented court system that allows enforcing patents across several European jurisdictions in a single court proceeding.
To best represent our clients in proceedings before the Unified Patent Court (UPC), Linklaters has brought together its team of patent litigators across Europe into a dedicated UPC litigation practice.
Our Intellectual Property team advises some of the largest businesses in the world on high-value and commercially significant patent disputes. We develop and implement quick and effective national and international litigation strategies from the early stages of strategy development, assessing patent portfolios and preparing reaction and counterclaim strategies, to representing clients in the front row of patent infringement actions and validity proceedings across Europe, before the UPC or in national court. We tailor our teams to the specific case, leveraging all relevant levels of seniority and technical expertise to optimise value for clients.
Clients benefit from our extensive cross-border experience. We have always considered ourselves One Team of litigators from multiple jurisdictions, but before the UPC are working together even more closely to provide a truly seamless service. With teams in Germany, France, Belgium, Portugal and Italy, we are present in the important jurisdictions in the UPC territory. In addition, we have an excellent patent litigation team in the UK, a good knowledge of the U.S. litigation system and we are very experienced in coordinating multi-jurisdictional European and parallel U.S. litigation, providing clients with a consistent approach, wherever they need us.
Our services
Integrated global litigation strategy
- A single, integrated global patent team with extensive cross-border experience delivering excellent service at the highest level
- Skilled at coordinating complex and high-stakes multi-jurisdictional and parallel cases
- On the ground presence in key UPC member states: Germany, France, Belgium, Portugal and Italy
- Close cooperation with our UK and U.S. litigation teams to determine and implement efficient global strategies
- Our deep understanding of the characteristics of each key patent litigation venue, nationally and before the UPC, enables us to determine strategic advantages in each case
Full spectrum of litigation
- Full range of patent litigation representation before the UPC
- Extensive expertise in infringement and validity proceedings
- Handling injunctions, damages claims, recalls and all other relevant claims
- Advising on strategic procedural aspects such as reaction strategies and stays of proceedings
- Track record of managing complex, high-stakes matters
Appeals
- Representation of clients before the UPC Court of Appeal
- Proven success in securing client wins at the appellate level
- Tailoring the strategy from the outset with taking the second instance into account
Provisional and evidentiary measures
- Robust litigation strategies including all forms of interim measures
- Skilled in securing and defending against preliminary injunctions
- Experience with seizure and surrender of products as well as asset freezes
- Extensive experience with pre-trial evidence gathering (both UPC and national proceedings) such as inspections and evidence preservation, including saisie contrefacon
- Tailoring the available means of evidence and evidence collection tools to each case
Pre-litigation advice
- Offensive/defensive advice concerning the patents involved and the wider commercial strategy
- Industry-specific approach for practical risk management
- Advising on pre-trial settlement strategies where applicable
- Integrating insights from competition, tax, insolvency, capital markets and M&A specialists where required
- Handling arbitration, mediation and alternative dispute resolution options
Unitary Patent System
The Unitary Patent System allows for uniform patent protection in all contracting states. While the system is open to accession by any EU Member State, not all EU Member States have signed the UPC Agreement.
The UPC consists of a Court of First Instance, which includes a central division (seated in Paris, with sections in Munich and Milan) and local and regional divisions. Local divisions can be set up on request of a contracting state, with the possibility to set up one additional local division for every one hundred patent cases commenced in this state per calendar year (max. four local divisions per state). Regional divisions can be set up on request of two or more contracting states.
Please click on the map to the right to see more.
Cross-border Patent Litigation Update April 2025
Our update on patent litigation cases summarises key decisions from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium, the Unified Patent Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union. Again, a major focus has been on the Unified Patent Court, which is approaching its second anniversary in June and started building a body of case law on key substantive questions.
Recent developments in FRAND issues at the Unified Patent Court in Europe
With the Unified Patent Court (UPC) having issued its first two substantive decisions on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) matters, the complex landscape of standard essential patents (SEPs) continues to evolve.
Cross-border Patent Litigation Update June 2024
We are halfway through 2024, and the European patent landscape has been active with various key court decisions. Our update on patent litigation cases summarises key decisions from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium, and the Unified Patent Court.
Cross-border Patent Litigation Update November 2023
After many years in the making, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) finally started its operations on 1 June. It has accumulated a fair number of cases by now and even issued its first decisions in the first month, with additional decisions coming out regularly now.
We have therefore included a dedicated section on the UPC in this latest edition of our update, which also comprises summaries of the most relevant decisions from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Belgium.
Dedicated team
