Rule 209 – Examination of the Application for provisional measures

1. Without prejudice to the Court’s decision on the Application for provisional measures, the Court shall have the discretion – including where the Application is made pursuant to Rule 206.3 – to:

(a) inform the defendant about the Application and invite him to lodge, within a time period to be specified, an Objection to the Application for provisional measures which shall contain:

(i) the reasons why the Application shall fail;

(ii) the facts and evidence relied on, in particular any challenge to the facts and evidence relied on by the applicant; and

(iii) where main proceedings on the merits of the case have not yet been started before the Court, the reasons why the action which will be started before the Court shall fail and the facts and evidence relied on in support;

(b) summon the parties to an oral hearing;

(c) summon the applicant to an oral hearing without the presence of the defendant.

2. In exercising its discretion pursuant to paragraph 1, the Court shall in particular take into account:

(a) whether the patent has been upheld in an opposition procedure before the European Patent Office or has been the subject of proceedings in any other court;

(b) the urgency of the action;

(c) whether the applicant has requested provisional measures without hearing the defendant and whether the reasons for not hearing the defendant appear well-founded; and

(d) any Protective letter filed by the defendant; the Court shall in particular consider summoning parties to an oral hearing if a relevant Protective letter has been filed by the defendant.

3. In cases of extreme urgency the standing judge appointed in accordance with Rule 345.5 may decide immediately on the Application for provisional measures and the procedure to be followed on the Application.

4. If the applicant has applied for provisional measures without hearing the defendant and the Court decides not to grant provisional measures without hearing the defendant the applicant may withdraw the Application and may request that the Court order that the Application and the contents of the Application remain confidential.

5. If the patent the subject of the Application is also the subject of a protective letter pursuant to Rule 207 the applicant may withdraw the Application pursuant to paragraph 4.

Case Law:

IPPT20231211, UPC CFI, LD Düsseldorf, Ortovox Sportartikel v Mammut Sports
Ex parte provisional injunction under penalty of € 10.000 per product or € 30.000 per day and order to hand over devices, all subject to a security of € 500.000. Order to be served by claimant’s counsel. Direct use of the invention (article 25 UPCA). Indirect use of the invention (article 26 UPCA). Validity of the patent is sufficiently certain (article 62(4) UPCA, Rule 211(2) RoP). The fact that the patent in suit has not yet survived any adversarial legal validity proceedings does not preclude this. Even without such prior proceedings, the legal validity can be sufficiently secured. Summary examination of arguments brought in pending Swiss revocation proceedings. Urgency of the action (Rule 209(2)(b) RoP) The urgency required for the ordering of interim measures is only lacking if the injured party has been so negligent and hesitant in pursuing his claims that, from an objective point of view, it must be concluded that the injured party is not interested in enforcing his rights quickly, which is why it does not seem appropriate to allow him to claim interim legal protection (see also UPC_CFI 2/2023 (LK München), order of 19 September 2023, p. 84 f.).