European Union: Court Procedure

The Court of Appeal¹ has this month issued an important judgment clarifying the law on the enforcement of possession orders in Ireland. The Court held that the 12-year limitation period prescribed by the Statute of Limitations 1957 for "actions upon a judgment" does not apply to applications for leave to issue execution of a possession order.

A patent law firm seeks access to the register in proceedings involving Seventy Bio, Inc. against Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech entities, with the United States government intervening. The case concerns European Patent EP 3 689 383 and involves multiple Janssen pharmaceutical subsidiaries across Europe and Legend Biotech entities in the USA, Ireland, and Belgium.

The Local Division Munich of the Unified Patent Court issued orders in provisional measures proceedings involving requests to preserve evidence and inspect premises. Reinhausen GmbH brought actions against Shanghai Huaming Power Equipment Co., Ltd. concerning two European patents related to power equipment technology.

The Court of Appeal addresses whether the deadline for submitting a Statement of response to an appeal can be extended when new information becomes available after the Statement of grounds of appeal was received. This procedural decision involves an appeal between Fives ECL and REEL GmbH concerning European Patent EP 1 740 740, examining the application of specific UPCA articles and Rules of Procedure governing extension of time limits in UPC appeal proceedings.

The Milan Local Division of the UPC Court of First Instance issued a comprehensive decision by default addressing critical questions of service procedure, damages standards, and enforcement mechanisms in cross-border patent infringement cases.

The Munich Local Division of the Unified Patent Court addressed critical procedural questions in provisional measures proceedings, examining how prior knowledge of infringement allegations from parallel litigation in other jurisdictions affects the timeline for preparing objections. The court's decision establishes important precedents for balancing swift relief against the fundamental rights of respondents in cross-border patent disputes.

Under Maltese company law, creditors holding at least one-fourth of a company's debt value have the statutory right to request a meeting to potentially replace the Official Receiver as liquidator. This mechanism provides creditors with meaningful influence over the liquidation process, particularly when specialized expertise or a different approach to asset recovery is needed.

Cryptocurrency fraud victims in Cyprus are increasingly targeted by sophisticated "recovery" scams involving cold calls, remote access requests, and false promises to retrieve lost digital assets. Recent court cases demonstrate that while recovery is not guaranteed, victims who preserve evidence and act quickly may have realistic legal options through Cyprus courts, including freezing orders, disclosure relief, and asset preservation measures.

The Düsseldorf Local Division of the Unified Patent Court has adopted the Dutch-derived four-step equivalence test in a patent infringement case involving stroller wheel locking mechanisms. This decision, which rejected claims of equivalent infringement based on a strict feature-by-feature functional analysis, may signal an emerging consensus on how equivalence should be assessed across the UPC.