We are very happy and proud to congratulate our FICPI members on their election as Technical Judges of the Unified Patent Court (UPC). They have been selected by a high-ranked Advisory Committee of the UPC from around 1,000 applications of judges filed with the Preparatory Committee of the UPC in 2019.
The UPC will be a court common to 24 Contracting EU Member States of the UPC Agreement and thus part of their judicial system. It will have exclusive competence in respect of European patents and European patents with unitary effect. The UPC will have Local and Regional Divisions as well as a Central Division as first instance courts and a Court of Appeal in Luxembourg as a second instance. The UPC was recently reported to start work on behalf of 17 of the 24 Contracting Member States on 1 April 2023.
The Central Division of the UPC will sit in a composition of two legally qualified judges and one technically qualified judge "with qualifications and experience in the field of technology concerned".
Also the Local or Regional Divisions of the UPC can comprise such a technically qualified judge, either upon request by one of the parties or where the Division deems this appropriate. The Court of Appeal will sit in a composition of three legally qualified judges and two technically qualified judges. The technically qualified judge will in each case of first and second instance be selected of the Pool of Judges of the UPC which contains 51 technically qualified judges.
Our congratulations to:
Mr Alessandro Sanchini of Dr. Modiano & Associati S.p.A. (IT)
Mr Anders Max Hansson of Hansson Thyresson Patentbyrå AB (SE)
Mr András Kupecz of Simmons & Simmons (NL)
Mr Arwed Andreas Burrichter of Cohausz & Florack Patent- und Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaftsgesellschaft(DE)
Mr Bernard Christiaan Ledeboer of V.O. (NL)
Ms Carola Wagner (DE)
Mr Casper Struve of Zacco Norway AS (DK)
Mr Christoph Dominik Schober of Flügel Preissner Schober Seidel Patentanwälte (DE)
Mr Claus Elmeros of Plougmann & Vingtoft A/S (DK)
Mr Dennis Kretschmann of Boehmert & Boehmert (DE)
Ms Dörte Otten-Dünnweber (DE)
Ms Elisabetta Papa of Società Italiana Brevetti S.p.A.(IT)
Mr Eric Augarde of Brevalex (FR)
Mr Giorgio Checcacci of Checcacci Partners S.r.l. (IT)
Mr John Meidahl Petersen (DK)
Mr Martin Schmidt (FR/DE)
Mr Max Tilmann of König Szynka Tilmann von Renesse Patentanwälte, Partnerschaft (DE)
Mr Michael Alt of Bird & Bird (DE)
Mr Michael Fleuchaus of Fleuchaus & Gallo Partnerschaft mbB Patentanwälte (DE)
Mr Paolo Ernesto Crippa of Jacobacci & Partners S.p.A. (IT)
Mr Patrice Vidon of Cabinet Patrice Vidon (FR)
Mr Rainer Friedrich of Breuer Friedrich Hahner Patentanwälte PartG mbB (DE)
Mr Roman Maksymiw (DE)
Mr Steen Wadskov-Hansen of Budde School A/S (DK)
Mr Stefan Wilhelm of Pat Wilhelm (DE)
Ms Stefanie Parchmann of Maiwald Patentanwalts- und Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft (DE)
Ms Ulrike Keltsch (DE)
Mr Uwe Ausfelder (DE)
Mr Uwe Schwengelbeck (DE)
FICPI’s view and involvement
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Next steps
Consider becoming involved with FICPI's Study & Work Committees, with groups ranging from designs to international patents, and biotechnology & pharmaceuticals.