UPC Structure – local, regional and central divisions and Court of Appeal, Judges & Languages

The UPC has a Court of First Instance (divided into local, regional and central divisions) and a Court of Appeal (Luxembourg). Cases can commence in any one of these divisions according to the subject matter and the prescribed division set out in the UPC Agreement and the UPC Rules.

Central Division

The main seat of the central division is Paris with further seats in Munich and Milan. 

The work of the central division is divided according to the subject matter of the patent in dispute based on IPC classifications (as set out in this Decision of the UPC Administrative Committee of 26 June 2023):

• Paris: The Paris seat of the central division hears all cases involving patents in IPC sections (B), (D), (E), (G) and (H), as well as all cases involving patent with SPCs in classes (A) or (C).  
• Munich:  Cases involving patents in IPC class F (concerning mechanical engineering, lighting, heating, weapons and blasting), and IPC class C (Chemistry, metallurgy, including some pharmaceuticals and patents relating to peptides and nucleic acids and also genetic engineering – but not those patents with SPCs which are dealt with by the Paris seat), are allocated to the Munich seat of the central division.
• Milan: The Milan seat of the central division (which opened on 27 June 2024) handles cases involving patent in IPC class (A) Human necessities (although not those involving supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) which will be dealt with by Paris). See our blog post here.

Under the UPC Agreement (UPCA) London had originally been assigned one of the central division seats and was to have been assigned cases on patents involving human necessities (A) and pharmaceuticals/chemistry including genetic engineering and metallurgy (International Patent Classification of WIPO sections (A) and (C)). However, once London left the UPCA, these needed to be reassigned and a third seat reallocated. This third seat was then allocated to Milan, following the amendment of the UPCA (see here). 

Central division judges: The central division has a panel of three judges – two legally qualified judges and one technically qualified judge at all times. There is a mixture of nationalities on such panels.

The central division judges for each division are:

Paris:

• Ms Florence Butin (FR)
• Mr Vincenzo Carnì (IT)
• Mr Maximilian Haedicke (DE)
• Mr François Thomas (FR)
• Ms Marjolein Visser (NL)
• Ms Tatyana Zhilova (BG)

Munich:

• Ms Mélanie Bessaud (FR)
• Mr András Kupecz (NL)
• Mr Daniel Severinsson (SE) 
• Mr Thomas Adocker (AT) 

Milan: 

• Mr Andrea Postiglione (IT)
• Ms Anna-Lena Klein (DE)
• Ms Marije Knijff (NL)

Local and regional divisions

The UPC website has a page confirming the location of the various local and regional divisions of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) (see here).  Whilst all other participating states have one local court (or participate in the Nordic-Baltic regional division), Germany has four local division courts - Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Mannheim and Munich.

Under the UPC Agreement, Court of First Instance courts like these in states where there are on average more than 50 patent cases a year under current national patent litigation proceedings have a judicial panel of three legally qualified judges, two of whom are local nationals of that state (or of those states in the case of the regional division), plus one technically qualified judge. 

The following are legally qualified judges (LQJs) for each of the Local and Regional division courts: 

Local division LQJs:

• Vienna, Austria - Mr Walter Schober (AT)
• Brussels, Belgium - Mr Samuel Granata (BE)
• Copenhagen, Denmark – Mr Peter Agergaard (DK)
• Helsinki, Finland – Mr Petri Rinkinen (FI)
• Paris, France – Ms Carine Gillet (FR), Ms Camille Lignieres (FR)
• Düsseldorf, Germany – Panel 1: Mr Ronny Thomas (DE) (Presiding judge) and Ms Jule Schumacher (DE), Panel 2: Ms Bérénice Thom (DE) (Presiding judge) and Mr Ingo Rinken (DE)
• Hamburg, Germany – Ms Sabine Klepsch (DE), Mr Stefan Schilling (DE)
• Mannheim, Germany – Mr Tobias Sender(DE), Mr Peter Michael Tochtermann (DE), Mr Dirk Böttcher (DE)
• Munich, Germany – Mr Tobias Pichlmaier (DE), Mr Matthias Zigann (DE), Mr Daniel Voβ (DE), Mr Georg Werner (DE), Ms Ina Schnurr (DE) (from 1 March 2026)
• Milan, Italy – Mr Pierluigi Perrotti (IT), Ms Alima Zana (IT)
• The Hague, The Netherlands – Mr Edger Brinkman (NL), Ms Margot Kokke (NL), Mr Robert van Peursem (NL)
• Lisbon, Portugal – Ms Rute Lopes (PT)
• Ljubljana, Slovenia – Ms Mojca Mlakar (SI)

Regional division (Nordic Baltic) LQJs:

• Stockholm, Sweden – Seat of the Regional Division - Mr Stefan Johansson (SE), Ms Goda Ambrasaité-Balyniené (LT)
• Tallinn, Estonia – Place of hearing of the Regional Division - Ms Kai Härmand (EE)

Court of appeal judges and presidium

As of 2026 the Court of Appeal has three panels of legally qualified judges, listed as follows:

• Mr Klaus Grabinski (DE) President of the Court of Appeal (Panel 1)
• Mr Emmanuel Gougé (FR) (Panel 1)
• Mr Peter Blok (NL) (Panel 1)
• Mr Paolo Catallozzi (IT) (Panel 1)
• Ms Rian Kalden (NL) (Panel 2)
• Ms Patricia Rombach (DE) (Panel 2)
• Ms Ingeborg Simonsson (SE) (Panel 2)
• Ms Ulrike Voß (DE) (Panel 3)
• Mr Bart van den Broek (NL) (Panel 3)
• Ms Nathalie Sabotier (FR) (Panel 3)

Presidium: Following the result 2025 elections for the 2025-2028 term of the Presidium, the Unified Patent Court remains led by Mr Klaus Grabinski (DE), as President of the Court of Appeal, and Ms Florence Butin (FR), as President of the Court of First Instance. The Presidium is completed by two judges from the Court of Appeal: Ms Rian Kalden (NL) and Ms Ingeborg Simonsson (SE) and three judges from the Court of First Instance: Ms Camille Lignières (FR), Mr Peter Tochtermann (DE), and Mr Pierluigi Perrotti (IT).

Technically qualified judges

Each technically qualified judge is appointed to a particular area or areas of technology. 

Biotechnology:

Mr Oliver Werner (DE) (01.06.2024)

Mr Arwed Andreas Burrichter (DE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Eric Enderlin (FR) (01.06.2023)

Mr Rainer Friedrich (DE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Paolo Gerli (IT) (01.06.2023)

Mr Cornelis Schüller (NL) (01.06.2023)

Chemistry and Pharmaceutics:

Xavier Dorland-Galliot (FR) (17.07.2023)

Andreas Gustafsson (SE) (17.07.2023)

Anna Hedberg (SE) (17.07.2023)

Mr Michael Alt (DE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Renaud Fulconis (FR) (01.06.2023)

Mr Rudi Goedeweeck (BE) (01.06.2023)

Mr John Meidahl Petersen (DK) (01.06.2023)

Ms Stefanie Parchmann (DE) (01.06.2023)

Ms Laure Sarlin (FR) (01.06.2023)

Mr Casper Struve (DK) (01.06.2023)

Mr Steen Wadskov-Hansen (DK) (01.06.2023)

Ms Carola Wagner (DE) (01.06.2023)

Stefanie Philipps (DE) (16.08.2023)

Erwin Wismeth (DE) (9.10.2023)

Mr Martin Schmidt (FR/DE) (01.06.2023)

Electricity:

Kristian Jauregui Urbahn (FR) (14.05.2025)

Mr Johannes Mesa Pascasio (AT) (01.06.2024)

Mr Steven Richard Kitchen (DK) (01.06.2024)

Mr Torsten Duhme (DE) (01.06.2024)

Mr Michael Quittkat (DE) (01.06.2024)

Mr Christian Keller (DE) (01.06.2024)

Mr Jochen Thomas (DE) (01.06.2024)

Mr Christoph Norrenbrock (DE) (01.06.2024)

Klaus Loibner (AT) (17.07.2023)

Udo Matter (DE) (01.09.2023)

Mr Pascal Attali (FR) (01.06.2023)

Mr Eric Augarde (FR) (01.06.2023)

Mr Bertrand Cochet (FR) (01.06.2023)

Mr Alain Dumont (BE) (01.11.2023)

Mr Dennis Kretschmann (DE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Alessandro Sanchini (IT) (01.06.2023)

Mr Andrea Scilletta (IT) (01.06.2023)

Mr Simon Walker (FI) (01.06.2023)

Wiem Samoud (FR) (17.07.2023)

Mr Addick A.G. Land (NL) (17.03.2025)

Guillaume Faget (FR) (17.07.2023)

Hergen Kapels (DE) (01.08.2023)

Alessandra Sani (IT) (01.10.2023)

Mechanical engineering:

Mr Simon Stephan Michels (DE) (03.06.2025)

Mr Lorenzo Parrini (IT) (04.06.2025)

Kristian Jauregui Urbahn (FR) (14.05.2025)

Graham Ashley (DE/UK) (17.07.2023)

Nicolai Geier (DE) (01.08.23)

Merja Annikki Heikkinen-Keinänen (FI) (17.07.2023)

Mr Michel Abello (FR) (01.06.2023)

Mr Uwe Ausfelder (DE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Koen Callewaert (BE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Giorgio Checcacci (IT) (01.06.2023)

Mr Paolo Ernesto Crippa (IT) (01.06.2023)

Mr Claus Elmeros (DK) (01.06.2023)

Mr Frédéric Gaillarde (FR) (01.06.2023)

Mr Bernard Christiaan Ledeboer (NL) (01.06.2023)

Ms Elisabetta Papa (IT) (01.06.2023)

Mr Uwe Schwengelbeck (DE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Max Tilmann (DE) (01.06.2023)

Ms Marie-Paule Vandeberg (BE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Pascal Lucien Pierre Weber (FR) (01.06.2023)

Mr Stefan Wilhelm (DE) (01.06.2023)

Jeroen Meewisse (NL) (07.08.2023)

Kerstin Roselinger (SE) (17.07.2023)

Beate Schenk (DE) (1.08.2023)

Pascal Weber (FR) (01.06.2023)

Marc van der Burg (NL) (17.07.2023)

Physics:

Ms Selma Schenkl (15.10.2025)

Mr Christian Daniel (DE) (03.06.2025)

Ms Dorothea Hofer (DE) (03.06.2025)

Mr Simon Stephan Michels (DE) (03.06.2025)

Mr Lorenzo Parrini (IT) (04.06.2025)

Kristian Jauregui Urbahn (FR) (14.05.2025)

Mr Johannes Mesa Pascasio (AT) (01.06.2024)

Mr Steven Richard Kitchen (DK) (01.06.2024)

Mr Torsten Duhme (DE) (01.06.2024)

Mr Christian Keller (DE) (01.06.2024)

Mr Christoph Norrenbrock (DE) (01.06.2024)

Mr Michael Fleuchaus (DE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Anders Max Hansson (SE) (01.06.2023)

Ms Ulrike Keltsch (DE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Gérard Myon (FR) (01.06.2023)

Ms Dörte Otten-Dünnweber (DE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Andrea Perronace (IT) (01.06.2023)

Mr Christoph Dominik Schober (DE) (01.06.2023)

Mr Patrik Rydman (SE) (01.06.2023)

Anthony Soledade (FR) (17.07.2023)
 

Languages of the UPC Courts

In terms of the languages of each court, the UPC website carries some general information here, as follows:

For our regular series of blog posts on UPC and unitary patent developments click here.

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