In a decision dated 21 March 2025, the Paris Local Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) rejected Mul-T-Lock's challenge to the long-arm jurisdiction of the UPC in light of the recent BSH Hausgeräte ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Specifically, the Paris Local Division confirmed that the UPC has jurisdiction to hear the infringement action brought by the claimant in respect of the Spanish, Swiss, and UK parts of the European patent in suit.
The defendants (two entities of Mul-T-Lock, one domiciled in France) lodged a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the UPC to hear the infringement action on the patent's 'non-unitary' validations, i.e., its Spanish, Swiss, and UK designations, suggesting that the recent CJEU decision from 25 February 2025 creates an unfair bias in favour of the claimant. In that decision, the CJEU ruled that a court in an EU member state can decide on infringement for parts of a European patent validated in other states (and also on foreign patents, for that matter), provided that the defendant is domiciled in an EU member state.
Explaining the legal basis for its decision, the Paris Local Division confirmed that under the Brussels I bis Regulation, the UPC is deemed to be a court of an EU member state; following the CJEU decision, if such a court is seized for infringement of a patent granted in a "third state" (e.g., a non-EU member state), that court shall have jurisdiction to rule on the infringement but only having inter partes effect, i.e., not as to amend or revoke the patent in that country.
As such, the Paris Local Division ruled that the UPC has jurisdiction to hear the full territorial scope of the action brought by the claimant and, where appropriate, to rule on validity. This decision, along with Fujifilm v. Kodak from the Dusseldorf Local Division in January, reinforces the UPC's authority to exercise a long-arm jurisdiction in cross-border patent disputes.
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