{"id":22832,"date":"2024-01-01T15:12:57","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T14:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/?p=22832"},"modified":"2026-08-05T11:03:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T09:03:36","slug":"unified-patent-court-forum-shopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/unified-patent-court-forum-shopping\/","title":{"rendered":"Forum Shopping"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='av_section_1'  class='avia-section av-m1rl12y3-38037870738f2b7be41ec25e222efb4c main_color avia-section-large avia-no-border-styling  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  avia-bg-style-scroll container_wrap fullsize'  ><div class='container av-section-cont-open' ><main  role=\"main\" itemprop=\"mainContentOfPage\"  class='template-page content  av-content-full alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-22832'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'>\n<div  class='flex_column av-av_two_third-5367d1a8949ea854cc7619afa10347cf av_two_third  avia-builder-el-1  el_before_av_one_third  avia-builder-el-first  first flex_column_div'     ><p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-m1rkzcpk-228b893a2d46e2bf857697183a0262c3\">\n#top .av-special-heading.av-m1rkzcpk-228b893a2d46e2bf857697183a0262c3{\npadding-bottom:10px;\n}\nbody .av-special-heading.av-m1rkzcpk-228b893a2d46e2bf857697183a0262c3 .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{\nfont-size:25px;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-m1rkzcpk-228b893a2d46e2bf857697183a0262c3 .av-subheading{\nfont-size:15px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='av-special-heading av-m1rkzcpk-228b893a2d46e2bf857697183a0262c3 av-special-heading-h1 blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-2  el_before_av_textblock  avia-builder-el-first'><h1 class='av-special-heading-tag'  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Forum Shopping<\/h1><div class=\"special-heading-border\"><div class=\"special-heading-inner-border\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-m1rl0kye-5a9d96cbada64aa69f29b97af21b9a83'   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p>In the context of actions for infringement before the Unified Patent Court (UPC), forum shopping means the possibility for a plaintiff to choose a particular division out of several competent divisions for his action.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-size: 1.4em;\">Reasons for forum shopping<\/h2>\n<p>Reasons for choosing one division over another are based on the wiggle room and discretion that the rules on procedure and material laws governing the UPC provide the judges with, which can result in (statistically significant) differences between the divisions in how they decide on various issues and how they conduct the proceedings. Examples would be: win\/loss ratio; how often court experts are appointed; how often counterclaims for revocation are referred to the central chamber and a corresponding infringement action is stayed; how often infringement actions are stayed in light of pending opposition proceedings before the EPO; how often local chambers request technically qualified judges in infringement actions; chances for success of applications for provisional measures.<\/p>\n<h3>Forum shopping at Unified Patent Court<\/h3>\n<p>The rules governing the UPC allow forum shopping to a certain extent. Actions for infringement can be brought before a local and regional division of a contracting member state if infringement takes place in said state (e.g. sale of goods). Further, actions for infringement can be brought before a local and regional division of a contracting member state if defendant has its seat in said state. In case the defendant does not have its seat on the territory of any contracting member state, the action can also be brought before the central division. In case a contracting member state has several local divisions (for now only Germany, with four divisions), an action can be brought before any of these divisions (in case infringement takes place on the territory of that state).<\/p>\n<p>For example: a defendant has its seat in Austria, infringement takes place in Germany, Italy and France. The action for infringement can then be brought be before the one of the local divisions in Vienna, Munich, Dusseldorf, Mannheim, Hamburg, Milan and Paris.<\/p>\n<p>Since the divisions of the Unified Patent Court, in principle, render decisions for the territories of all contracting member states (see the corresponding article), plaintiffs can take advantage of the peculiarities of the divisions in cases where several divisions are competent (as in the above example).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-m1rkzq1s-d7c7aac8d386128b088e8bd26491991b\">\n#top .hr.hr-invisible.av-m1rkzq1s-d7c7aac8d386128b088e8bd26491991b{\nheight:35px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='hr av-m1rkzq1s-d7c7aac8d386128b088e8bd26491991b hr-invisible  avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_textblock  el_before_av_button'><span class='hr-inner'><span class=\"hr-inner-style\"><\/span><\/span><\/div><br \/>\n<div  class='avia-button-wrap av-vgpo0g-3396a12a3231cb3a9189f2cbe77eb11e-wrap avia-button-left  avia-builder-el-5  el_after_av_hr  el_before_av_hr'><a href='https:\/\/www.boehmert.de\/en\/upc\/unified-patent-court\/'  class='avia-button av-vgpo0g-3396a12a3231cb3a9189f2cbe77eb11e av-link-btn avia-icon_select-yes-left-icon avia-size-medium avia-position-left avia-color-theme-color'   aria-label=\"Back to page Unified Patent Court\"><span class='avia_button_icon avia_button_icon_left avia-iconfont avia-font-linearicons-free' data-av_icon='\ue879' data-av_iconfont='linearicons-free' ><\/span><span class='avia_iconbox_title' >Back to page Unified Patent Court<\/span><\/a><\/div><br \/>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_hr-fe79b5e9c7dc7236081eb587a4ccff38\">\n#top .hr.hr-invisible.av-av_hr-fe79b5e9c7dc7236081eb587a4ccff38{\nheight:35px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='hr av-av_hr-fe79b5e9c7dc7236081eb587a4ccff38 hr-invisible  avia-builder-el-6  el_after_av_button  avia-builder-el-last'><span class='hr-inner'><span class=\"hr-inner-style\"><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/p><\/div><div  class='flex_column av-av_one_third-866c246b881428acd016a5e4e8ec097a av_one_third  avia-builder-el-7  el_after_av_two_third  avia-builder-el-last  flex_column_div'     ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the context of actions for infringement before the Unified Patent Court (UPC), forum shopping means the possibility for a plaintiff to choose a particular division out of several competent divisions for his action. Reasons for choosing one division over another are based on the wiggle room and discretion that the rules on procedure &#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[317,308],"tags":[],"legal_areas":[],"class_list":["post-22832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upc-unified-patent-court","category-upc-page"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Unified Patent Court UPC: Forum Shopping, Definition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find out what forum shopping is and what reasons there are for using Forum Shopping in a patent infringement action!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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