Application Order

- Written pleadings or evidence that were not yet in the casefile at the time when the request for access was made, but were added to the casefile before a party commented on the request, can be covered by a decision granting access, provided that the request made clear that such documents were encompassed. This reduces the need for further separate requests, while ensuring that the parties are consulted. The parties can comment on what is in the casefile at the time when they submit their comments. - By contrast, blanket requests for access to written pleadings or evidence that may be added to the casefile after comments, or after the decision granting or denying access has been issued, are not admissible. The member of the public will have to make a new request for access to such documents. - A request for access to written pleadings or evidence, insofar as such documents are not explicitly mentioned by the member of the public, although the request could potentially be understood to encompass unspecified documents in related proceedings, is not admissible. - Immediate access to written pleadings and evidence has been granted based on a reasoned request by a member of the public who is party to concrete legal proceedings concerning the validity of the patent at issue, with a stated direct interest in the said validity. - The Court may, for the purpose of appropriate protection of the integrity of proceedings, impose certain conditions on granting access. Since this is a matter of the general interest, it can be done on the Court’s own motion (see CoA, 10 April 2024, UPC_CoA_404/2023, APL_584498/2023, Ocado, at para 54). - The granting of immediate access to written pleadings or evidence has been accompanied by the condition that the member of the public is not allowed to file the written pleadings in question, or parts thereof, with other courts or judicial instances such as the EPO Boards of Appeal, or distribute them elsewhere, until the present appeal has been adjudicated or otherwise closed. This does not prevent the member of the public from informing itself of the arguments brought forward in the case before the Court, including prior art, and if it chooses to, use the same arguments or prior art before the Boards of Appeal or elsewhere to support its own cases, or inform the Boards of Appeal that the arguments or prior art have been brought forward in the UPC proceedings.

Access to written pleadings and evidence, admissibility, immediate access, imposition of conditions for access