Rule 271 – Service of the Statement of claim

1. The Registry shall serve the Statement of claim by electronic means if the conditions referred to in Article 19 of the Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 are met

(a) on the defendant at an electronic address which the defendant has provided for the purpose of service in the proceedings; or

(b) on a representative of the defendant if the defendant has provided the electronic address of a representative pursuant to Rule 8.1 as an address at which the defendant may be served with the Statement of claim; or

(c) on a representative of the defendant pursuant to Rule 8.1 if the representative has notified the Registry or the claimant that he accepts service of the Statement of claim on behalf of the defendant at an electronic address.

2. Where a representative pursuant to Rule 8.1 accepts service on behalf of a party service may be effected within the closed electronic system of the UPC Case Management System (CMS).

3. For the purpose of serving a Statement for revocation [Rule 44] or of serving a Statement for declaration of non-infringement [Rule 63], reference to representative under paragraph 2(b) or (c) shall additionally include professional representatives and legal practitioners as defined in Article 134 EPC who are recorded as the appointed representative for the patent, the subject of the proceedings, in the Register for unitary patent protection [Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012, Article 2(e)] or in the national patent register [Rule 8.5(a)].

4. Where service by electronic means cannot be effected, the Registry shall serve the Statement of claim on the defendant by:

(a) any other method foreseen by the law of the European Union on the service of documents in civil and commercial matters [Regulation (EU) 2020/1784], in particular by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or equivalent [Article 18 Regulation (EU) 2020/1784]; or

(b) where service in accordance with paragraph 4(a) could not be effected any method permitted by the law of the Member State of the European Union where service is to be effected or authorised by the Court under Rule 275.

5. Service under this Section shall be effected at the following place:

(a) where the defendant is a company or other legal person, at its statutory seat, central administration or principal place of business within the Contracting Member States or at any place within the Contracting Member States where the company or other legal person has a permanent or temporary place of business;

(b) where the defendant is an individual, at his usual or last known residence within the Contracting Member States; or

(c) for the purpose of serving a Statement for revocation [Rule 44] or of serving a Statement for a declaration of non-infringement [Rule 63], at the place of business of a professional representative or legal practitioner as defined in Article 134 EPC who is recorded as the appointed representative for the patent, the subject of the proceedings, in the Register for unitary patent protection [Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012, Article 2(e)] or of the patent office of a Contracting Member State.

6. Subject to Rule 272.2 and .3, a Statement of claim served in accordance with paragraphs 1 to 5 is deemed to be served on the defendant:

(a) where service takes place by means of electronic communication, on the day when the relevant electronic message was sent (GMT+1);

(b) where service takes place by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or equivalent such letter shall be deemed to be served on the addressee on the tenth day following posting unless it has failed to reach the addressee, has in fact reached him on a later date or the acknowledgement of receipt or equivalent has not been returned. Such service shall, except where paragraph 8 applies, be deemed effective even if acceptance of the letter has been refused.

7. The Registry shall advise the defendant that he may refuse to accept a Statement of Claim if it is not written or not accompanied by a translation into a language that he understands or that is an official language of the place where service is to be effected, by enclosing with the document to be served form L in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2020/1784.

8. Where the defendant is entitled to refuse service and where he has notified the refusal to the Registry within two weeks of the attempted service together with an indication of the language(s) he understands, the Registry shall inform the claimant. The claimant shall provide to the Registry translations of at least the Statement of claim and the information required in Rule 13.1(a) to (p) in a language provided for by paragraph 7.

Case law

Court of Appeal

IPPT20240409, UPC CoA, Panasonic v Xiaomi
If Rule 271(1) RoP – service of Statement of claim at an electronic address provided for service  – applied in the First Instance, it also applies in appeal. In appeal proceedings, Chapter 2 – Service (Rules 270 – 279) of the Rules of Procedure (RoP) applies mutatis mutandis. Consequently, if during the proceedings at the Court of First Instance, Rule 271.1 RoP applied (in short: an electronic address for service was provided by the defendant or his representative) and/or a representative of the respondent accepted service on behalf of the respondent, then pursuant to R.271.2 RoP further service – not only in the proceedings at first instance, but also in appeal proceedings - shall be effected within the closed electronic system of the UPC Case Management System (CMS).

Court of First Instance

IPPT20240122, UPC CFI, CD Paris, NJOY Netherlands v VMR Products

 All written pleadings, including the defence to revocation, are deemed to be served on the day when the relevant electronic message was sent (Rule 278(4) RoP; Rule 271(6)(a) RoP)

IPPT20231027, UPC CFI, LD Hamburg, 10x Genomics v Vizgen

Extension of time to file Statement of Defense with the period of time that the plaintiffs allowed to elapse with the subsequent submission of the annexes.

IPPT20231013, UPC CoA, Amgen v Sanofi-Aventis
Valid date of service of statement of claim with Annexes (Rule 271 RoP). A Statement of claim, even if it refers to or announces the later submission of Annexes, can be validly served on a defendant, provided that the Statement of claim without the Annexes enables the defendant to assert its rights in legal proceedings before the courts of the UPC. A Statement of claim must therefore at least state with certainty the subject matter and cause of action. Only annexes that are indispensable for the understanding of the subject matter and the cause of action must be served (and where necessary translated) on a defendant, together with the Statement of claim. Extension of terms for Preliminary objections and Statement of defense because of unavailability of Annexes (Rules 13, 19 and 23 RoP). If a claimant did not upload the Annexes simultaneously with the Statement of claim in the CMS, and thus did not comply with Rule 13.2, and as a consequence these have not been available when the representative of the defendant accessed the CMS with the Access Code contained in the Notice, this in itself is sufficient to constitute a reasoned request by a defendant for an extension of the terms mentioned in Rules 19.1 and 23 RoP for lodging a Preliminary objection and the Statement of defense, regardless of the nature and/or content of the Annexes. Failing any specific circumstances of an individual case which calls for another term, which have to be brought forward by the claimant, the extension of the terms mentioned in Rules 19.1 and 23 shall compensate for and thus be equal to the period during which the Annexes have not been available after service of the Statement of claim contrary to Rule 13.2 RoP.

IPPT20231011, UPC CFI, CD Munich, Astellas v Healios

The notification generated by the system is the “means of electronic communication” as meant in Rule 278.1 RoP or, as the case may be, the “relevant electronic message” as meant in Rule 271.6 RoP.

IPPT2023927, UPC CFI, LD Munich, Philips v Edrich

Valid service Statement of claim on 4th defendant via 1st defendant, who is one of its directors. In the opinion of the Local Division, knowledge may be presumed pursuant to Rule 275(2) RoP if either a legal relationship exists after which knowledge may be imputed or concrete circumstances exist which establish knowledge.

IPPT20230829, UPC CFI, LD Munich, Amgen v Sanofi-Aventis
Service of Statement of claim (Rule 13 RoP, Rule 271 RoP). Pursuant to Rule 13 of the Rules of Procedure, an action can be validly filed and served without annexes if the submission of these annexes is merely announced at a later date in the statement of claim.The requirement to grant the defendant a sufficient right to be heard, also with regard to attachments submitted at a later date, may need to be met by fine-tuning the time limit regime.

IPPT20230825, UPC CFI, LD München, Tesla v Avago
Service of Statement of claim by registered letter (Rule 271(6) RoP). Posting within the meaning of Rule 271(6) RoP is regularly to be expected at the Local Court of Munich one to two days after the handover to the postal service of the Higher Regional Court of Munich.  Consequently, the Munich Local Court is in the habit of accepting a posting two days later

IPPT20230814, UPC CFI, LD Munich, Edwards Lifesciences v Meril
Successful service under Rule 271(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure on one of several defendants also constitutes, in the circumstances of the main proceedings, effective alternative service on another defendant under Rule 275.2 of the Rules of Procedure.

IPPT20230629, UPC CFI, CD Munich, Sanofi-Aventis v Amgen
Deemed day of service on the Defendant ((Rule 271 and Rule 49 Rules of Procedure). Application to file exhibits to statement of claim granted. In view of the access to the case that Defendant obtained on today’s date and the exhibits becoming available to the Defendant also today, the Court would like to clarify that the Statement of revocation is deemed to be served on the Defendant today, i.e. on 29 June 2023.

IPPT20230626, UPC CFI, LD Milan, Ocado v Autostore

Service of the Statement of claim without sending a copy of the documents (approximately 2.000 pages) attached to the claimant, as in any case listed on pages 47 et seq. of the Statement of claim and in any case summarily described in their content in the body of the same document.