KEEEX v ADOBE (CFI, 22 September 2026)

Dhenne Avocats · 19 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

By an order under Rule 105.5 RoP issued after the interim conference, the judge-rapporteur closed the interim procedure and opened the oral procedure in the infringement action brought by KEEEX against Adobe, OpenAI, Truepic, Joint Development Foundation Projects and the C2PA entities, with the counterclaim for revocation. The order sets the oral hearing for 6 October 2026 with a structured agenda, admits eleven auxiliary requests for examination after the withdrawal of one auxiliary request corresponding to the patent as granted, and confirms French as the language of the hearing with simultaneous interpretation into English at the defendants’ expense.

Why it matters

The order shows how a Paris judge-rapporteur uses Rule 105.5 RoP to frame the oral hearing in a multi-defendant software case: the order identifies the claim construction questions the parties must address, including whether the claimed digital fingerprint covers only hash-type fingerprints or also digital signatures, and sequences the hearing across interpretation, validity, infringement and remedies within a single day. For parties preparing UPC oral hearings, it illustrates that the interim conference order can effectively fix the battleground, so that arguments not aligned with the identified issues risk receiving little hearing time. It also documents the Paris division’s handling of a large set of auxiliary requests at the case management stage rather than leaving their admissibility entirely to the decision on the merits.

Practical point

When the language of proceedings is French and defendants are anglophone groups, interpretation can be ordered at the defendants’ expense. This cost allocation should be anticipated in the litigation budget.

Summary prepared by Dhenne Avocats. Only the official text of the decision is authoritative.