UPC Central Division: Procedural Decision: Identity of Parties in Case of Affiliated Companies
June 19, 2026
The defendant disputes the admissibility of a revocation action brought by the French subsidiary of a German company, while the parent company had already filed a counterclaim for revocation against the same patent in suit before another division. The defendant argued that the affiliated companies were the "same party" and that the plaintiff was merely acting as a "straw man" to circumvent lis pendens. The Central Division ruled that for the existence of a separate interest in a revocation action in addition to the counterclaim for revocation already filed by an affiliated company, the plaintiff's own business activity is decisive. The degree of connection between the companies concerned is not relevant. Affiliated companies are not the "same party" within the meaning of Art 33(4) sentence 2 UPCA simply because they are parent and subsidiary companies. The degree of control is also not a decisive criterion, insofar as the company concerned carries out its own business activities. The examination of the unity of the undertaking in the context of an antitrust action has different requirements and must take other interests into account, so that the principles developed there are not transferable (CD Paris 26.1.2026,CFI 99/2025).