Report of the Litigation Committee
A. Casalonga (FR), Chair
Update on Training Activities
An inter committee working group under the lead of PEC had been established with members of LitCom, EPPC and PEC.
The task of this group is to plan training events in connection with the Unitary Patent and the UPC.
A series of seminars have already been scheduled.
Each seminar has three speakers, two for the Unitary Patent part and one for the UPC part.. The EPO agreed to provide a speaker for the Unitary Patent part for eight of the seminars. The other speakers are epi members.
Due to the UK’s referendum, some of the seminars have been cancelled or replaced by different topics.
Code of Conduct for UPC Representatives
A first draft Code of Conduct for the UPC has been prepared by the epi, EPLAW and EPLIT.
It was suggested to include rules on the conduct of a representative in ex parte proceedings, e.g. preservation of evidence or inspection. It should be regulated that the representative needs to be careful with confidential information and is not allowed to communicate to his client anything he saw during the saisie, or inspection which is not related to the case, e.g. infringements of other patents.
Litcom’s comments prepared by the Litcom were presented by Mr Casalonga and discussed with Klaus Haft who was responsible of the first draft on behalf of EPLAW. A part of the Litcom’s suggestions were incorporated in the final draft. The Preparatory Committee agreed on the UPC CoC at its 17th meeting in Stockholm on 30 June 2016.
Consequences of a Brexit
The result of the referendum in UK will certainly have consequences on the UPC and the Unitary patent. At the present time it is impossible to ascertain those consequences.
The UK may decide to ratify the UPC Agreement before effectively leaving the EU, which could lead to an entry into force of the UPC and the UP in 2017 as previously announced. Specific arrangements could then be found to allow the UPC and possibly also the UP to extend their effects to the UK territory, even after UK would have left the EU.
The Litigation Committee will monitor the changing situation and draft epi opinions on proposed changes, if necessary.
