The UPC in Focus

Gulliksson was founded in 1975 and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Another fifty-year effort is the attempt to establish a unified European patent system. In 1975, the first convention regarding a Community Patent (Community Patent Convention of Luxembourg) was signed by the Member States of the European Community. These efforts, however, have been plagued by difficulties and disagreements. The 1975 Convention was never ratified by a sufficient number of countries to become a reality.

New attempts were made, resulting in a new Community Patent Convention in 1989. This, too, was not ratified by enough Member States and never came into force.

In the years that followed, several additional efforts were made to deepen European patent cooperation, but these repeatedly fell through. Only in the early 2010s was a certain level of consensus finally reached on how the system should be designed, although it required a special arrangement allowing EU Member States that did not wish to participate to remain outside. Even from that point onward, the path toward a unified European patent system has been far from smooth. Yet, the efforts have survived both Brexit and challenges before the German Constitutional Court, and as of 1 June 2023, we now have a unified patent system and a Unified Patent Court (UPC).

More than two years have now passed since the unified patent system was implemented in Sweden as an option. Much has happened since then, and we therefore wish to provide an overview of the Unified Patent Court’s development during its first two years.

According to statistics published by the UPC as of 30 June 2025, a total of 946 cases had been initiated at first instance since the launch of the new unified patent system. Of these, 351 were infringement actions, 321 counterclaims for revocation stemming from 188 infringement cases, and 68 stand-alone revocation actions. At the Court of Appeal, a total of 287 appeals and related applications had been filed. Of these, 72 concerned final decisions or rulings terminating the proceedings for one of the parties.

The statistics show that the majority of the cases have been brought before the local division in Munich, accounting for about 28% of all cases. The Nordic-Baltic division accounted for 1.6% of all cases, with its 7 infringement actions and 13 counterclaims.

In the majority of first-instance proceedings, English has been the language of the proceedings (55%), closely followed by German (39%). This is hardly surprising given the high proportion of cases initiated in Germany.

During these two years, the Court has also managed to update its internal Case Management System (CMS), which applies from 23 September 2025.

According to statistics published on the EPO’s website, approximately 70,000 requests for unitary patents have been filed in total, maintaining a stable level of around 2,000–3,000 applications per month since the system was launched.

Against the background of this steady trend in both the number of unitary patent applications and initiated cases, the market appears to have embraced the new unified patent system positively.

We look forward to – and actively participate in – its continued development. Questions? Feel free to contact the team!

Gulliksson celebrates its 50th anniversary
Take part in glimpses and highlights from our journey from the start in 1975 to today!