Nokia v. Mala Technologies: The UPC Interprets Its Relationship With National Courts

Brussels recast

The Brussels I Regulation has been in force, under various names, since 1973 and defines general rules on the jurisdiction of the national courts within the EU. The Unified Patent Court (UPC) has exclusive competence over certain types of patent disputes and the Brussels regulation was recast (herein Brussels recast) to define the jurisdiction of the UPC amongst the EU courts.

In this decision, the UPC considered its jurisdiction under Brussels recast and the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) with regard to parallel national revocation proceedings that had been initiated before the entry into force of the UPCA.

The original articles of Brussels recast (important for this decision, particularly Arts. 29-32) were formulated to prevent conflicts of jurisdiction between national courts of EU member states. The UPC is not a court of a member state in this sense but is, instead, considered a "common court". Additional articles (Arts. 71a-71d) were