Rule 13 – Contents of the Statement of claim

1. The claimant shall lodge a Statement of claim with the division chosen by him [Article 33 of the Agreement] which shall contain:

(a) the name of the claimant, and, where the claimant is a corporate entity, the location of its registered office, and of the claimant’s representative;

(b) the name of the party against whom the Statement is made (the defendant), and, where the defendant is a corporate entity, the location of its registered office;

(c) postal and electronic addresses for service on the claimant and the names of the persons authorised to accept service;

(d) postal and, where available, electronic addresses for service on the defendant and the names of the persons authorised to accept service, if known;

(e) where the claimant is not the proprietor or not the only proprietor of the patent concerned, postal and where available, electronic addresses for service on the proprietor and the names and addresses of the persons authorised to accept service, if known;

(f) where the claimant is not the proprietor of the patent concerned, or not the only proprietor, evidence to show the claimant is entitled to commence proceedings [Article 47(2) and (3) of the Agreement];

(g) details of the patent concerned, including the number;

(h) where applicable, information about any prior or pending proceedings relating to the patent concerned before the Court including any action for revocation or a declaration of non-infringement pending before the central division and the date of any such action, the European Patent Office or any other court or authority;

(i) an indication of the division which shall hear the action [Article 33(1) to (6) of the Agreement] with an explanation of why that division has competence; where the parties have agreed in accordance with Article 33(7) of the Agreement, the indication of the division which shall hear the action shall be accompanied by evidence of the defendant’s agreement;

(j) where applicable, an indication that the action shall be heard by a single judge [Article 8(7) of the Agreement], accompanied by evidence of the defendant’s agreement;

(k) the nature of the claim, the order or the remedy sought by the claimant;

(l) an indication of the facts relied on, in particular:

   (i) one or more instances of alleged infringements or threatened infringements specifying the date and place of each;

    (ii) the identification of the patent claims alleged to be infringed;

(m) the evidence relied on [Rule 170.1], where available, and an indication of any further evidence which will be offered in support;

(n) the reasons why the facts relied on constitute an infringement of the patent claims, including arguments of law and where appropriate an explanation of the proposed claim interpretation;

(o) an indication of any order the claimant will seek during the interim procedure [Rule 104(e)];

(p) where the claimant assesses that the value of the infringement action exceeds EUR 500.000, an indication of the value; and

(q) a list of the documents, including any witness statements, referred to in the Statement of claim, together with any request that all or part of any such document need not be translated and/or any request pursuant to Rule 262.2 or Rule 262A.

2. The claimant shall at the same time supply a copy of each of the documents referred to in the Statement of claim.

3. The judge-rapporteur shall decide on any request made pursuant to paragraph 1(q) as soon as practicable after his designation pursuant to Rule 18.

Case law

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..

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.