InterDigital Madison Patent Holdings v Amazon.com (CFI, 26 January 2026)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

By an order of 26 January 2026 (UPC_CFI_2045/2025), the President of the Court of First Instance granted the request of six Amazon companies, defendants to InterDigital Madison Patent Holdings’ infringement action before the Mannheim Local Division (EP 2 803 191, image coding), and changed the language of the proceedings from German to English, the language in which the patent was granted. As the claimant put forward no circumstances specific to the case, the President simply referred to the reasoning of two orders issued in 2025. The order confirms that unsubstantiated opposition will not stand in the way of a switch to the language of the patent.

Question

Should the language of the proceedings change from German to English, the language of the patent, under Art. 49(5) UPCA and Rule 323, where the claimant opposes the request only by referring to its submissions in other cases?

Decision

Admissibility of the request, made before the Statement of Defence, was not disputed. On the merits, the defendants relied in particular on their being established outside Germany, the use of English in the technical field and in the FRAND negotiations, and the absence of any disadvantage for the claimant. InterDigital substantiated no circumstances relating to the case or to the parties and referred to its submissions in UPC_CFI_86/2025 and UPC_CFI_87/2025. The President expressly adopted the reasoning of the orders issued in those cases and ordered the change to English, without any translation or interpretation arrangements, none having been requested.

Key points for practice

• A defendant established outside the country of the division can obtain the language of the patent at the outset of the case, even before filing its Statement of Defence.
• A party opposing the change must put forward circumstances specific to the case. A bare reference to other files is not enough.

Provisions applied

Agreement on a Unified Patent Court

Arts 49(1), (2) and (5) and 73(2)(a)

Rules of Procedure

Rules 220.1(c) and 323

Case law cited

order of 30 April 2025, UPC_CFI_87/2025, Düsseldorf Local Division, order of 2 May 2025, UPC_CFI_86/2025, Mannheim Local Division

Prepared by Dhenne Avocats from the official decision, consulted on 10 October 2026. The database is updated every week, on Friday. Only the official text is authoritative.