Language of proceedings at the Court of First Instance
Agreement On A Unified Patent Court
Part 3 – Organisation and Procedural Provisions
Chapter 2 – Language of Proceedings
Article 49 – Language of proceedings at the Court of First Instance
- The language of proceedings before any local or regional division shall be an official European Union language which is the official language or one of the official languages of the Contracting Member State hosting the relevant division, or the official language(s) designated by Contracting Member States sharing a regional division.
- Notwithstanding paragraph 1, Contracting Member States may designate one or more of the official languages of the European Patent Office as the language of proceedings of their local or regional division.
- The parties may agree on the use of the language in which the patent was granted as the language of proceedings, subject to approval by the competent panel. If the panel does not approve their choice, the parties may request that the case be referred to the central division.
- With the agreement of the parties the competent panel may, on grounds of convenience and fairness, decide on the use of the language in which the patent was granted as the language of proceedings.
- At the request of one of the parties and after having heard the other parties and the competent panel, the President of the Court of First Instance may, on grounds of fairness and taking into account all relevant circumstances, including the position of parties, in particular the position of the defendant, decide on the use of the language in which the patent was granted as language of proceedings. In this case the President of the Court of First Instance shall assess the need for specific translation and interpretation arrangements.
- The language of proceedings at the central division shall be the language in which the patent concerned was granted.
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Articles linking to this article:
Article 51 – Other language arrangements
Article 74 – Effects of an appeal
Statute linking to this article:
Rules linking to this article:
Rule 14 – Use of languages under Article 49(1) and (2) of the Agreement
Rule 45 – Language of the Statement for revocation
Rule 88 – Application to annul or alter a decision of the Office
Rule 89 – Examination as to formal requirements (ex parte proceedings)
Rule 220 – Appealable decisions
Table of Court fees: