Meril v Edwards Lifesciences (CFI, 19 December 2023)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

By an order of 19 December 2023 (UPC_CFI_249/2023, ACT_550921/2023, ORD_577734/2023), the Munich Local Division (M. Zigann, presiding judge and judge-rapporteur) found that Edwards Lifesciences Corporation’s application for provisional measures against Meril GmbH and Meril Life Sciences Pvt Ltd., based on EP 3 763 331, had become devoid of purpose following the respondents’ cease-and-desist undertaking of 25 September 2023, and ordered the respondents to bear all the costs, capped at EUR 200,000. Leave to appeal was granted, as the issue was decided for the first time.

Question

Do Rule 360 and Rule 118.5 RoP apply by analogy to provisional measures proceedings ended by the respondent’s undertaking, and who then bears the costs?

Decision

The Rules contain an unintended gap on this point: Rule 360 applies by analogy, as does Rule 118.5 for the costs decision, governed by Art. 69 UPCA (sections 2 and 3a). Disposal by undertaking is an exceptional circumstance. The reservation « without acknowledging a legal obligation » does not prevent the court from considering the respondents’ de facto position as losing party and the timing of the undertaking. The respondents could have given the undertaking before the warning letter deadline expired on 13 July 2023, which would have avoided the application. After a 107-page defence and preparation for the hearing, their late undertaking caused unnecessary costs within Art. 69(3) UPCA (section 3b). The value in dispute is set at EUR 1,500,000, the amount is left to cost-fixing proceedings under Rule 151 RoP.

Key points for practice

• Practical point: a respondent that gives a cease-and-desist undertaking only after a full defence risks bearing all the costs of the provisional measures proceedings.

Provisions applied

Agreement on a Unified Patent Court

Art. 69(1) to (3) and Art. 73(2)(b)(ii)

Rules of Procedure

Rules 102.1, 118.5, 151, 156.2, 220.2, 354.4 and 360

Related decisions

• Edwards Lifesciences v Meril, 10 January 2025, cost-fixing order.

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.