Dr. Ingve Björn Stjerna, LL.M.

EU Patent Reform: The structural lack of judicial independence and impartiality at the Unified Patent Court

Article on shortcomings of the Unified Patent Court with regard to the Rule of Law (Published on 29/12/2025)

Despite the well-known legal shortcomings, the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) commenced operations on 01/06/2023. It is clear that the obvious problems will not disappear simply by ignoring them as persistently as possible. Sooner or later, they must and will end up before a constitutional court and/or the CJEU. In this context, a recent decision by the UPC Court of Appeal dated 06/10/2025 (Roku International B.V. et al. v. Dolby International AB et al., UPC_CoA_288/2025 et al.) is very remarkable, in which the court refused the appellants’ request for a referral to the CJEU. The court’s handling of the matter demonstrates not only the protagonists’ fear of a review of the UPCA by the CJEU, but also, in particular, a structural deficit in the independence and impartiality of the UPC judges.

  • Download English version (Article of 29/12/2025, PDF)
  • Download German version (Article of 29/12/2025, PDF)


Resources:

  • Link to the decision of the Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court of 06/10/ 2025 in case Roku International B.V. et al ./. Dolby International AB et al
  • Link to CJEU Opinion 1/09 of 08/03/2011.
  • Link to the article Jaeger, All Back To Square One? – An assessment of the latest proposals for a Patent and Court for the Internal Market and pos-sible alternatives, Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law Research Paper No. 12-01.
  • Link to the article Jaeger, What’s in the Unitary Patent Package?, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition Research Paper No. 14-08.
  • Link to CJEU judgment of 14/06/2011 in matter C-196/09 (Paul Miles et al / European Schools).
  • Link to CJEU judgment of 01/10/2017 in matter C-284/16 (Slovak Republic / Achmea BV).
  • Link to CJEU Opinion 1/17 of 30/04/2019.
  • Link to Council document 15856/11 of 21/10/2011.
  • Link to Wikipedia entry on the Council of the European Union.
  • Link to the Legal Opinion by Richard Gordon QC and Tom Pascoe “Re the Effect Of ‘Brexit’ on the Unitary Patent Regulation and the Unified Patent Court Agreement” of 12/09/2016 (PDF).
  • Link to the article “No legal obstacles for post-Brexit UK to participate in Unitary Patent system” of 18/09/2016 on the Kluwer Patent Blog.
  • Link to Council document 10630/11 of 26/05/2011.
  • Link to the European Council database on international Agreements relating to the UPCA.
  • Link to Amanda Solloway’s archived statement of 20/07/2020 on the “withdrawal” of the UK’s ratification of the UPCA.
  • Link to German Parliament Printed Matter 19/22847 of 25/09/2020 („Entwurf eines Gesetzes zu dem Übereinkommen vom 19. Februar 2013 über ein Einheitliches Patentgericht“ [“Draft legislation on the Agreement of February 19, 2013, on a Unified Patent Court”).
  • Link to the BMJV Organizational Plan of 14/12/2020.
  • Link to the website of the Administrative Committee of the Unified Patent Court.
  • Link to CJEU judgment of 27/02/2018 in matter C-64/16 (Associação Sindical dos Juízes Portugueses / Tribunal de Contas).
  • Link to the archived press release of the German Federal Court of Justice No. 149/2022 of 20/10/2022 (“Ein Richter und eine Richterin am Bundesgerichtshof werden als Präsident und Richterin am Berufungsgericht des Einheitlichen Patentgerichts tätig“ [“Two judges at the Federal Court of Justice will serve as president and judge at the Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court”]).
  • Link to the archived Wikipedia entry on UPC judge Patricia Rombach.
  • Link to the archived UPC website on judge Rian Kalden.


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