UPC: Obligation of the Court of Appeal to Render a Final Decision Instead of Remand

The Court of Appeal clarifies its obligation to issue a final decision on the merits when setting aside a first-instance judgment. As a rule, the Court of Appeal is required to render a final decision if it sets aside the decision of the Court of First Instance. This means that, after having found the appeal of the plaintiffs and patent proprietors against the first-instance judgment in the revocation counterclaim proceedings to be well-founded, the Court of Appeal must typically decide finally not only on the revocation counterclaim but also on the infringement action in order to render a final decision. A referral back to the Court of First Instance is only possible in exceptional cases. The fact that the Court of First Instance did not decide on a question relevant to the appeal proceedings does not, as a rule, constitute an exceptional case justifying a referral back. Consequently, the circumstance that the Court of First Instance did not have to decide on the infringement of the patent in suit because it found the patent underlying the infringement action invalid and thus revoked it within the scope of a revocation counterclaim by the defendants does not, as a rule, give the Court of Appeal cause to refer the revocation counterclaim and the infringement action, or even just the infringement action, back to the Court of First Instance. (UPC 17. 2. 2026, CoA 302/2025, CoA 305/2025)