Roche Diabetes Care v Tandem Diabetes Care (CFI, 9 September 2024)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

By order of 9 September 2024 (UPC_CFI_88/2024, ACT_10800/2024, ORD_28786/2024), the Hamburg Local Division (S. Klepsch, presiding and judge-rapporteur, S. Schilling, T. Zhilova, G. Checcacci) dismissed the request by Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. and Tandem Diabetes Care Europe B.V. to stay Roche Diabetes Care’s infringement action on EP 2 196 231 pending the revocation action they had brought on 30 November 2023 before the Paris Central Division. It also refused to hear infringement and validity together in Hamburg, and granted leave to appeal.

Question

Should a local division stay infringement proceedings where an earlier revocation action is pending before the Central Division?

Decision

The division exercises the discretion conferred by Art. 33(3) and (5) UPCA and Rule 75 RoP to proceed. Following the Court of Appeal’s order of 28 May 2024, a stay must in principle be ruled out, having regard to the right to an effective remedy within a reasonable time and the aim of a final oral hearing within one year. The risk of irreconcilable decisions does not require a stay, as the panel deciding last can take the Central Division’s decision into account. The claimant’s interest prevails, the outcome of the revocation action being uncertain in timing and substance, and the parties to the two sets of proceedings are not identical. The division need not assess the likelihood of invalidity and, for the time being, does not follow the judge-rapporteur’s provisional view of 14 June 2024 that it could hear the defendants’ revocation action.

Key points for practice

• Practical point: filing a revocation action first before the Central Division is not enough to obtain a stay of the infringement action, even where the patentee files numerous auxiliary requests.

Provisions applied

Agreement on a Unified Patent Court

Arts. 33(3) and (5) and 73(2)(b)(ii)

Rules of Procedure

Rules 37, 75, 220.2 and 295

Case law cited

Carrier v BITZER Electronics, Court of Appeal, 28 May 2024 (UPC_CoA_22/2024)

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.