SONN Patentanwälte – IP Attorneys

UPC Board of Appeal: Change of the Language of Proceedings

The fact that the parties are domiciled in countries where the procedural language chosen by the claimant is an official language is an important factor in deciding on an application to use the language of the patent as the language of proceedings. Article 49(5) of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court does not require that the application for a language change be included in the statement of defense. Against this backdrop, Rule 323.3 of the Rules of Procedure must be interpreted so as not to exclude filing the application before the statement of defense. Filing the application before the statement of defense is generally even more practical, as it ensures that, in the event of a successful application, the language switch can be implemented at an early stage of the proceedings (Unified Patent Court, 5 September 2024, Court of Appeal 207/2024).