Düsseldorf, June 21, 2023 – On June 1, 2023, the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC Agreement, UPCA) entered into force. The Unified Patent Court (UPC) offers patent holders uniform protection for their ideas in 17 EU states with a total of 300 million citizens. One of the four UPC local divisions set up in Germany will commence its work in Düsseldorf – traditionally the most important location for patent infringement proceedings in Europe. The state government and Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht) have worked hard to achieve this and have facilitated and supported the project closely over the years.
“For decades, Düsseldorf has played an important role globally as a court location for patent infringement proceedings,” says Gottfried Schüll, patent attorney and partner at Cohausz & Florack. “It is therefore only logical that one of the four local divisions of the UPC would be located in Düsseldorf.”
The other three local divisions of the UPC are in Mannheim, Munich, and Hamburg. With four local divisions, Germany – in line with its prominent role in patent law – is the only country with more than one local division, giving it the most capacities for UPC proceedings.
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