Kodak v Fujifilm (CoA, 21 August 2025)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

By order of 21 August 2025, the judge-rapporteur of the Court of Appeal dismisses, without examining their substance, the confidentiality requests (Rule 262A RoP) filed by Kodak with its statements of grounds of appeal (UPC_CoA_312/2025 and UPC_CoA_333/2025) against the decisions of the Mannheim Local Division of 2 April 2025 which had held Fujifilm’s patent EP 3 511 174 valid and infringed in Germany. Since the first instance confidentiality orders already cover the same information, a new order is unnecessary. The Registry restricts access to the redacted version to the persons named in those orders.

Question

Is a fresh confidentiality order needed on appeal where the information is already protected by first instance orders that were not appealed?

Decision

A first instance order restricting access under Rule 262A RoP that has not been appealed continues to apply after the proceedings end and therefore covers the appeal (paragraph 7). It protects the information as such, not only the passages or presentation referred to (paragraph 8). The Mannheim orders expressly provide that the obligations survive the conclusion of the proceedings (paragraph 9), and Kodak confirms that the information is the same (paragraph 10): the request is superfluous (paragraph 11). The requirements of the Court’s electronic case management system do not override the Rules of Procedure or the Court’s case law (paragraph 12).

Key points for practice

• On appeal there is no need to seek a new order for information already protected at first instance. It is enough to identify the applicable orders (paragraphs 7 to 11).
• The technical requirement of the case management system to attach a Rule 262A RoP application does not create a need for an order (paragraph 12).

Provisions applied

Rules of Procedure

Rule 262A

Case law cited

Curio Bioscience v 10x Genomics, Court of Appeal, 28 March 2024, Insulet v EOFlow, Court of Appeal, 17 January 2025, UPC_CoA_768/2024.

Related decisions

• Kodak v Fujifilm, 2 June 2026, Court of Appeal decision in appeal UPC_CoA_312/2025.

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.