Article 51

Other language arrangements

1.   Any panel of the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal may, to the extent deemed appropriate, dispense with translation requirements.
2.   At the request of one of the parties, and to the extent deemed appropriate, any division of the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal shall provide interpretation facilities to assist the parties concerned at oral proceedings.
 3.   Notwithstanding Article 49(6), in cases where an action for infringement is brought before the central division, a defendant having its residence, principal place of business or place of business in a Member State shall have the right to obtain, upon request, translations of relevant documents in the language of the Member State of residence, principal place of business or, in the absence of residence or principal place of business, place of business, in the following circumstances:

(a) jurisdiction is entrusted to the central division in accordance with Article 33(1) third or fourth subparagraph, and

(b) the language of proceedings at the central division is a language which is not an official language of the Member State where the defendant has its residence, principal place of business or, in the absence of residence or principal place of business, place of business, and

(c) the defendant does not have proper knowledge of the language of the proceedings.

Case Law:

IPPT20240322, UPC CFI, LD Düsseldorf, 10x Genomics v Curio Bioscience
Party engaged interpreter (Article 51(2) UPCA, Rule 109(4)RoP). The aim of simultaneous interpreting is to enable parties who do not speak the language of the proceedings, or do not speak it well enough, to actively participate in the oral proceedings. The interpretation can be provided both into and from the language of the proceedings (see R. 109.1 VerfO). It is obvious that this must be the case. Only such simultaneous interpreting in both directions ensures that the person concerned understands the statements in the language of the proceedings (translation from the language of the proceedings) and can also articulate themselves if necessary (translation into the language of the proceedings). Insofar as the applicant nevertheless wants to force all parties on the defendant's side to attend a hearing in German, such an order would therefore run counter to the purpose of simultaneous interpreting and thus ultimately also to Art. 51 (2) UPCA.