Seminar: Substantive Patent Law before the Unified Patent Court
A practical update on the UPC's developing case law

Venue

Hotel Slon
Slovenska cesta 34
1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia

Description

Content description

More than three years after the Unified Patent Court became operational, a coherent body of substantive patent case law is emerging. This one-day seminar provides a structured overview of the Court's developing jurisprudence and its practical implications for European patent attorneys.

The seminar is organised into three substantive blocks, following a typical validity analysis before the UPC.

Part I – Claim Interpretation and Novelty

The seminar begins with the principles governing claim interpretation before the UPC and their practical consequences for infringement and validity proceedings. It will examine the role of the description and drawings, purpose-limited and functional features, and the distinction between limiting and non-limiting claim language. Building on these principles, the session analyses the UPC's developing approach to novelty, including the assessment of direct and unambiguous disclosure and the interpretation of prior-art documents.

Part II – Inventive Step

The second part focuses on the Court's approach of assessing inventive step. Participants will examine the concepts of realistic starting points, formulation of the objective technical problem, obviousness and common general knowledge, together with the treatment of hindsight and secondary indicia. The discussion will analyse how recent Court of Appeal decisions have shaped the UPC's analytical framework and how this compares with the EPO's established problem-solution approach.

Part III – Added Matter, Clarity and Sufficiency

The final part addresses the “formal” requirements governing patent validity. It considers the prohibition of added matter, including intermediate generalisations and the application of the EPO's "gold standard", together with the UPC's developing case law on clarity and sufficiency of disclosure. Particular attention will be paid to recent decisions clarifying the relationship between UPC and EPO practice.

Throughout the seminar, participants will discuss leading decisions of both the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal. The focus will be on practical consequences for patent drafting, prosecution, opposition and UPC litigation, highlighting where the UPC follows established European practice and where its own distinct jurisprudence is emerging.

Learning objectives

After completing this seminar, participants will be able to:

• explain the UPC's current approach to claim interpretation and novelty
• apply the Court's analytical framework for assessing inventive step
• understand the latest UPC case law on added matter, clarity and sufficiency of disclosure
• identify similarities and differences between UPC, EPO and national case law
• assess the practical impact of recent Court of Appeal decisions on prosecution and litigation strategy
• anticipate developing trends in substantive UPC jurisprudence

Speakers

• Tilman Pfrang
• Andrea Perronace

Target group

Level of expertise
Intermediate level

Application and use of personal data

Please do not use capital letters when filling the online registration form. Please indicate only personal email addresses.

By registering for this event, you accept that all your personal data may be used by the epi and authorised third parties (e.g. EPO) to the extent necessary to provide services or content you have requested. Please note our leaflet on privacy policy regarding the processing of your personal data.  

Please note our "private policy" regarding the processing of your personal data.

After the event we will send you a link for a feedback survey. Participation in the survey is voluntary. The data processing in the survey is anonymous. If you do not wish to receive the link, you can object to the data processing in advance. To do so, please contact [email protected].

Working language

• English

Contact

For further information, please contact Barbara Riffert ([email protected]).

Minimum number of participants

30*
*If the minimum number of participants was not reached by the registration deadline, the event will be cancelled. In this case the epi will inform you immediately.

Registration deadline

Registration is open until 06.10.2026 The order of receipt by epi will determine the attendance in case of over-subscription.

Group of participants

This event is only for epi Members and epi Students.