FUJIFILM v Kodak (CFI, ORD_62349/2024, 29 November 2024)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

By order of 29 November 2024 (UPC_CFI_355/2023, ACT_578607/2023, App_61390/2024), the judge-rapporteur of the Düsseldorf Local Division (Judge Thomas), in FUJIFILM Corporation’s infringement action on EP 3 594 009 B1 against Kodak GmbH and two other group companies, allowed the claimant to engage, at its own expense, an English to Japanese interpreter for the hearings of 17 and 18 December 2024, but refused to have interpretation arranged by the court or to treat its cost as costs of the proceedings.

Question

May a party whose representatives follow English, the language of the proceedings, only with difficulty obtain simultaneous interpretation into Japanese at the expense of the proceedings under Rule 109.1?

Decision

Interpretation was held appropriate: a hearing in a foreign language places greater demands on the claimant’s representatives, and an interpreter helps them follow the technical exchanges in full. Its cost, however, does not become a cost of the proceedings: Japanese is neither an official nor a designated language of the Contracting Member States or of the division, the representatives understand English and their difficulty concerns only detail and real-time understanding, arranging it would also place a heavy burden on the sub-registry. The claimant may engage an interpreter, who may use the courtroom equipment if necessary, provided it informs the sub-registry two weeks before the hearing. The request was otherwise dismissed.

Key points for practice

• Practical point: a foreign party may bring its own interpreter to the hearing, but the cost of interpretation into a language that is not a language of a Contracting Member State remains its own.

Provisions applied

Agreement on a Unified Patent Court

Art. 51(2)

Rules of Procedure

Rules 109.1, 109.2, 109.4, 109.5 and 150

Case law cited

Seoul Viosys, Düsseldorf Local Division, 12 July 2024, The Hague Local Division, 25 June 2024 (UPC_CFI_195/2024)

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.