ICPillar v Arm Poland Sp. z.o.o. (CFI, 12 February 2024)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

By an order of 12 February 2024 (UPC_CFI_495/2023, Order no. 7671, Application no. 5858/2024), the judge-rapporteur of the Paris Local Division, in ICPillar LLC’s infringement action on EP 3 000 239 against several Arm group companies and other defendants, authorised service by an alternative method (Rule 275.1 RoP) on Arm Poland Sp. z.o.o. and refused it for the companies established in the United Kingdom. The order clarifies when ordinary service can be regarded as having failed.

Question

On what conditions may a claimant be authorised to serve the Statement of claim by an alternative method, where a registered letter could not be delivered to a Polish defendant and service in the United Kingdom under the Hague Convention is still under way?

Decision

The judge-rapporteur recalled that Rule 275.1 RoP applies only where service under the ordinary methods could not be effected, and that a method already used by the Court, here the registered letter under Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2020/1784, is not an alternative method. For Arm Poland, the letter not having been delivered, ICPillar was authorised to use one of three methods: a French bailiff under Article 8 of the Regulation, direct contact with a local Polish bailiff, or dispatch by two independent private carriers recorded by a bailiff, these methods being consistent with the law of the place of service (Rule 275.4 RoP). Service is deemed effected on the date of actual delivery at the registered address. For the UK companies, the letter having reached the central authority on 26 January 2024, a delay of ten days is not a failure of service (Rule 274.1(ii) RoP), so the request was dismissed.

Key points for practice

• Practical point: a request under Rule 275.1 RoP is premature while service through the Hague Convention central authority is still in progress, it requires an established failure of the ordinary method.

Provisions applied

Rules of Procedure

Rules 271.4, 274.1, 275.1 and 275.4

Regulation (EU) 2020/1784

Art. 8 and 18

Other provisions

Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents, French Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 686

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.