The delays at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) have become so bad, that the court itself is being sued. The number of cases in the last month have risen drastically, the majority of which are trademark disputes. Trademark cases have increased by 50% from 200 to around 300 in just one year. A case at the ECJ may now take up to 4 years to be heard.
To date five companies have registered claims for damages against the ECJ, which damages have resulted from the delay in settling the cases. 12 additional judges should have been appointed in 2011, but the EU could not agree which countries the judges should come from and therefore they were never appointed.
The ECJ now wants to increase the number of judges to 56 over the next 4 years, the cost of which would be of £10 million a year. This proposal however needs to be approved by the European Parliament.
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