It has been three years since the Unified Patent Court (UPC) opened its doors on 1 June 2023. This marked one of the most significant changes to the European patent system in recent decades.
As previously reported here, the UPC is a court common to eighteen participating EU member states. It has jurisdiction over, amongst other things, infringement and validity disputes concerning Unitary Patents and European patents that have not been opted out of UPC jurisdiction within those states.
Over the past three years, the UPC’s caseload has continued to grow steadily. The courts of the UPC including the Court of Appeal (CoA) have issued many major decisions providing guidance on their approach to various substantive and procedural matters. Unitary effect was requested for approximately 28% of European patents granted in 2025 (up from 25% in 2024), which is consistent with increasing confidence in the UPC and Unitary Patent system.
One of the key aspects of the UPC is its promise of delivering faster judgements on infringement and validity issues. We have seen one such judgement on one of the earliest UPC cases filed on 1 June 2023 – Amgen v. Sanofi and Regeneron. This case went all the way to the CoA, and the CoA issued its judgement on 25 November 2025 which is a remarkable achievement of the Court concluding the matter in around 2.5 years. This case is also important as it shapes the case-law of the UPC on various substantive matters including claim interpretation, added-matter, sufficiency, and inventive step.
We have also seen a few cases where the UPC has exercised its long-arm jurisdiction. The UPC has indicated in a number of decisions that it may, in certain circumstances, have jurisdiction to determine infringement relating to a European patent validated in non-UPC states, including the UK. More recently, the UPC CoA has made a referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) with specific questions relating to long-arm jurisdiction over a non-EU defendant.
Whilst the UPC is becoming increasingly popular amongst litigants, opt-outs continue to be widely used, with approximately 37.5% of European patents granted in 2025 being opted out of UPC jurisdiction (down from 39% in 2024). This may reflect strategic decision-making by patent proprietors, who must weigh the risk of central revocation against the benefits of stronger enforcement through pan-European remedies. In some cases, patents that have been opted out are subsequently withdrawn from the opt-out register shortly before UPC proceedings are commenced. This tactical step can help ensure that the patentee retains control over the forum in which the action is initiated.
There have been many other notable developments at the UPC, including Romania joining the system on 1 September 2024 and the opening of the UPC Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre on 2 June 2026.
Watch this space for more updates as we continue to follow the UPC.