FUJIFILM v Kodak (CFI, ORD_15980/2025, 2 April 2025)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

By an order of 2 April 2025 (UPC_CFI_365/2023), the Mannheim Local Division separated, in FUJIFILM’s infringement action against three Kodak companies (EP 3 511 174), the requests concerning the UK part of the patent, which will be dealt with in separate proceedings. The CJEU’s BSH Hausgeräte judgment (C-339/22), given on 25 February 2025 after the oral hearing, concerns the rules of international jurisdiction under Regulation 1215/2012 that the UPC must apply. The order allows the national parts that are ready for decision to be decided without delay.

Question

Must the division hold back its decision on the whole European patent where a CJEU ruling on jurisdiction over the UK part is handed down after the oral hearing?

Decision

No. Basing the decision on that ruling without giving the parties an opportunity to comment would raise right-to-be-heard concerns, and a second hearing on the whole case would be disproportionate, since the panel could decide the other parts whatever the ruling’s outcome. Where only some national parts are ready for decision, the decision should not as a rule be withheld: delay would postpone enforcement of the claimant’s potential rights, including after a successful appeal, and the defendants have a legitimate interest in a prompt decision on their counterclaim for revocation. The parties, told of this possibility by an order of 22 January 2025, had not objected. Rules 302.1, 303.2 and 340.2 were applied by analogy.

Key points for practice

• Where a jurisdictional question concerns one state only, the division may decide the national parts that are ready and reserve the others, avoiding delay in the enforcement of any injunction.

Provisions applied

Rules of Procedure

Rules 302.1, 303.2 and 340.2

Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012

Arts 71a and 71b(1)

Case law cited

CJEU, 25 February 2025, BSH Hausgeräte, C-339/22

Related decisions

• FUJIFILM v Kodak, Mannheim Local Division, 2 April 2025, merits decision on the German part

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.