In this case, a third party involved in parallel opposition appeal proceedings before the EPO Board of Appeal had, in the context of an action for revocation of the same patent brought by another party before the Central Division of Paris, filed a request for access to the pleadings and evidence, as well as all other documents filed by the parties in these proceedings before the UPC.

Ruling on this request, the UPC Court of Appeal considered that a third party could have an immediate legitimate interest in obtaining access to pleadings and evidence already included in the file without having to wait for the proceedings to be closed. The direct link with related ongoing proceedings, particularly before the EPO, was decisive in establishing this interest.

Access was, however, granted under strict conditions, ensuring that the integrity of the parallel proceedings before the UPC and the rights of the parties were preserved. Indeed, the Court held that while the third party obtains information on the arguments put forward and the prior art used in the case before the UPC, uses the same arguments or prior art before the EPO or any forum to support its own cases, and informs the Board of Appeal of the EPO that these arguments or prior art have been used in parallel proceedings before the UPC, it may not file or disseminate the obtained statements to other courts (in particular the EPO) until the UPC appeal has been concluded.

The Court also reiterated the importance of protecting personal data and specified that the documents transmitted to the third party must, under the supervision of the UPC Registry, be redacted of any personal data.

Regarding the third party’s request for access to future or non-specifically identified documents, the Court declared it inadmissible, reiterating that access cannot be general, that it can only relate to documents actually included in the case file and precisely identified, and that if new documents were subsequently found to be relevant, a new request for access would have to be filed at the appropriate time.

This decision confirms the balance sought by the UPC between procedural transparency, data protection, and respect for parallel proceedings.

More information at www.upc-casalonga.eu.