With the establishment of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), its Case Management System (CMS) has been operational since September 2022. The costs of the Unified Court are defined in the document "Rules on Court Fees and Recoverable Expenses", which include fixed fees (Art. 2) and litigation costs with a value exceeding EUR 500,000 (Art. 3).
The fixed fees for the Court of First Instance are as follows:
Procedure/Action | Fixed Fee |
| Infringement [R.15] | 11000.00 EUR |
| Counterclaim for infringement [R.53] | 11000.00 EUR |
| Non-infringement Litigation Statement [R.68] | 11000.00 EUR |
| Licensing compensation litigation [R80.3] | 11000.00 EUR |
| Request for damages decision [R.132] | 3000.00 EUR |
On this basis, the costs of a European infringement action will range from €325,000.00 to €50,000.00, with at least 17 intermediate steps ranging from €2500.00 to €250,000. The subject matter of the action will be based on the valuation of the claim submitted by the applicant in the initial declaration (Section 6).
According to Article 8 of the revised European Patent Law, small and micro enterprises can reduce 60% of the fees. Article 9 provides that if the litigation is terminated early due to withdrawal from the litigation or agreement between the parties, the payable fees shall be reimbursed (60% if the litigation is terminated before the end of the written stage; 40% if the litigation is terminated before the end of the interlocutory stage; 20% if the litigation is terminated before the end of the oral stage). This fee does not include service fees.
Finally, the ECJ sets a maximum limit on the costs, including attorney fees, that a successful party may receive, with the possibility of increasing or reducing the maximum limit, depending in particular on the financial capacity of the parties.
