InterDigital VC Holdings v The Walt Disney Company (CFI, 30 April 2025)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

On an application by the Disney companies, defendants in InterDigital VC Holdings’ infringement action on EP 2 449 782 (video coding) before the Düsseldorf Local Division (UPC_CFI_87/2025), the President of the Court of First Instance, Florence Butin, changed the language of the proceedings from German to English, the language in which the patent was granted. The order, issued two days before the one in the parallel Mannheim action, applies the fairness criteria developed by the Court of Appeal.

Question

Is an application to change the language filed before the Statement of defence admissible, and should English be adopted in view of the parties’ situation and the technical field?

Decision

Yes. Admissibility was not disputed, service having been completed on all defendants and the claimant having been heard (Rule 323.2). On the merits, the President applied the Court of Appeal’s criteria: the language commonly used in the field, the parties’ nationality, domicile and size, working language and coordination needs, significant inconvenience is enough, and where the balance is even the defendant’s position prevails. English is the usual language of video coding and the working language of all parties. The representatives’ language skills and the judges’ native language are irrelevant. The Disney group’s resources and the parallel proceedings carry little weight. The option open to the claimant under Rule 14.1 is no obstacle.

Key points for practice

• An application to change the language may be made once the statement of claim has been served, before the Statement of defence.
• Practical point: where all parties work in English in an English-speaking technical field, a claimant’s initial choice of German is unlikely to be maintained.

Provisions applied

Agreement on a Unified Patent Court

Art. 49(1), (2) and (5)

Rules of Procedure

Rules 14.1 and 323

Case law cited

Curio Bioscience v 10x Genomics, Court of Appeal, 17 April 2024, Court of Appeal, 18 September 2024 (UPC_CoA_354/2024), Court of Appeal, UPC_CoA_207/2024, Düsseldorf Local Division, 28 May 2024 (UPC_CFI_26/2024)

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.