Are you a UPC representative?
A little-known competence of Council in disciplinary matters is its power to make recommendations on conduct within the terms of the Regulation on Discipline.Article 9(3) of the Regulation on the establishment of an institute of professional representatives before the European Patent Office (also known as the Founding Regulation).
On 8 November 2025, Council met in Nice (France) with the reform of the disciplinary system as main item on its agenda, in particular the amendment of the Regulation on Discipline. Almost unnoticed, another agenda item was the adoption of a recommendation regarding the title to be used by European Patent Attorneys who are entitled to represent parties before the Unified Patent Court (UPC).
Whilst parties must normallyArticle 48 UPCA, except in proceedings under Article 32(1)(i), i.e. actions concerning decisions of the EPO in carrying out the tasks entrusted to the EPO according to Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection. be represented by lawyers authorised to practise before a court of a State where the UPC Agreement is in force, European Patent Attorneys may also represent parties if they have appropriate qualifications and have been entered in the list kept by the UPC Registrar.
The question of representation already came twice before the UPC.
In case UPC_CoA_563/2024 (Suinno v. Microsoft), the question before the Court of Appeal was whether the owner and CEO of a company, who was a European Patent Attorney entered on the list kept by the Registrar, was allowed to represent the company. In the Order, there are four references to representation, two in the Headnotes and three in the Grounds for the Order:
- qualified to act as a UPC representative in accordance with Art. 48(1) or (2) UPCA (first headnote)
- the lawyer or the European patent attorney, qualified as a representative under Art. 48(1) or (2) UPCA (third headnote)
- qualified to act as a UPC representative in accordance with Art. 48(1) or (2) UPCA (grounds 20 and 22)
- “the UPC representative of a party” (ground 21)
The Court of Appeal later quoted literally passages from this Order in case UPC CoA 635/2024.
This confirmed that “UPC representative” as a title is widely used and understood in the IP community – not only by epi members and attorneys-at-law, but even by the UPC itself. On this basis, Council decided to amend its recommendation concerning the title (professional designation), thereby expressly endorsing the use of UPC Representative as (additional) title for European Patent Attorneys on the list maintained by the UPC Registrar. At the same time, Council decided to continue to allow the use of European Patent Litigator as title, obviously less preferred because it does not specifically refer to representation before the UPC but quite extensively used after a decision (now repealed) adopted by Council in Málaga on 22 October 2022.
The amended recommendation can be found on the epi website (item 4.2.2.2. in the Collection of Decisions).
Titel in Verbindung mit dem EPG
Der folgende berufliche Titel wird für ein Mitglied, das gemäß Art. 48.2 des Übereinkommens über ein Einheitliches Patentgericht (EPGÜ) befugt ist, Parteien vor dem Einheitlichen Patentgericht (EPG) zu vertreten, und das in das in Art. 48.3, letzter Satz, des EPGÜ erwähnte Verzeichnis eingetragen ist, zusätzlich zum Titel „European Patent Attorney“ oder zu einem der oben genannten, dazu äquivalenten Titel empfohlen:
„UPC Representative“
oder äquivalente Varianten wie „Representative before the Unified Patent Court, „Vertreter vor dem Einheitlichen Patentgericht“, „Représentant devant la Juridiction unifiée du brevet“.
Alternativ kann der Titel „European Patent Litigator“ zusätzlich zum Titel „European Patent Attorney“ oder zu einem der oben genannten, dazu äquivalenten Titel genutzt werden.
Title in connection with the UPC
The following professional title is recommended for a member who is authorized to represent parties before the Unified Patent Court (UPC) according to Art 48.2 of the Agreement on a UPC (UPCA) and who is registered on the list mentioned in Art. 48.3, last sentence, in addition to the title “European Patent Attorney” or to any of its equivalent titles referred to above:
“UPC Representative”
or equivalent versions such as “Representative before the Unified Patent Court”, “Vertreter vor dem Einheitlichen Patentgericht”,“Représentant devant la Juridiction unifiée du brevet”.
Alternatively, the professional title “European Patent Litigator” may be used in addition to the title “European Patent Attorney” or to any of its equivalent titles referred to above.
Titre en lien avec la JUB
Le titre professionnel suivant est recommandé pour un membre qui est habilité à représenter des parties devant la Juridiction unifiée du brevet (JUB) en application de l’article 48.2 de l’Accord relatif à une juridiction unifiée du brevet et qui est inscrit sur la liste visée à l’article 48.3, dernière phrase, en plus du titre “European Patent Attorney” ou d’un des titres équivalents mentionnés ci-dessus :
« UPC Representative »
ou des versions équivalentes telles que « Representative before the Unified Patent Court », « Vertreter vor dem Einheitlichen Patentgericht », « Représentant devant la Juridiction unifiée du brevet ».
À titre alternatif, le titre professionnel « European Patent Litigator » peut être utilisé en plus du titre « European Patent Attorney » ou d’un des titres équivalents mentionnés ci-dessus.
