Court fees and costs (UPC)

Court costs before the Unified Patent Court include the fees owed to the Court and the representation and expert costs incurred by the parties. Their regime is set by the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, by the Rules of Procedure and by the scale adopted by the Administrative Committee. Court costs are higher than in France but remain lower than the combined cost of several national proceedings, which is one of the economic arguments in favour of the UPC.

Court fees

First, the infringement action gives rise to a fixed fee, supplemented by a value-based fee where the value of the dispute exceeds a threshold, according to a progressive scale. Next, the revocation action brought as a principal action and the counterclaim for revocation give rise to fixed fees, the second being capped. Finally, the appeal gives rise to its own fees. Reductions are granted to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, natural persons, non-profit organisations, universities and public research organisations, as well as in case of early withdrawal or settlement. The amounts are set by decision of the Administrative Committee and revised periodically: they must be checked on the date of the action on the website of the Unified Patent Court.

Allocation of costs and recovery ceilings

The losing party bears in principle the reasonable and proportionate court costs of the successful party, up to ceilings set according to the value of the dispute, on a scale ranging from a few tens of thousands of euros for small disputes to several million euros for very high-value disputes. The Court may raise or lower these ceilings in exceptional cases, and apportion costs where each party is partly successful. A party may apply for security for costs. Expert and translation costs follow the same regime.

Key points

In practice, the value of the dispute, declared by the claimant and controlled by the Court, determines both the fees and the ceiling of recoverable costs: setting it is a strategic choice from the statement of claim. The budget of an action before the UPC must include the risk of being ordered to pay the opponent’s costs, which is one of the elements in assessing litigation funding. The firm draws up these budgets, as presented on the page lawyer before the Unified Patent Court.