The UPC announces the names of the three judges of the Unified Patent Court's central division in Milan

On 28 May 2024, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) announced the upcoming appointment of Mr. Andrea Postiglione, Ms. Anna-Lena Klein and Ms. Marije Knijff as judges of the Milan seat of the UPC's central division, which is set to open its doors on 26 June 2024.

The official announcement by the UPC follows a decision taken by the Administrative Committee on 6 May 2024 and paves the way for the Milan central division to open its doors on 26 June 2024. 

The Italian Government, through their Ministry of Foreign Affairs, welcomed the news, stating that it is "a further step towards the full implementation of the decision to establish a Section of the UPC's central seat in Milan" (see the Ministry's press release here).

The three judges have been selected following a selection process guided by the Advisory Committee's recommendation of 19 April 2024, which identified the best-qualified candidates for the Milan seat. In line with UPC rules, the judging panel has a multinational composition and each of the judges has built extensive experience in patent cases in their respective jurisdictions:

• Mr. Andrea Postiglione has been a judge at the IP Section of the Court of Rome for almost a decade, dealing with intellectual property cases in all areas, including a number of patent matters in the pharmaceutical sector.
• Ms. Anna-Lena Klein is a judge at the Regional Court of Munich and has worked on a wide range of patent cases. For example, she was on a panel of judges deciding a pharmaceutical case where patent rights on an orphan biological medicinal product were enforced alongside regulatory market exclusivity.
• Ms. Marije Knijff is a judge at the District Court of The Hague in the Netherlands.  Her focus has been on patent litigation and she has recently decided a long-running dispute over heart-valve technology.

Mr. Andrea Postiglione, Ms. Anna-Lena Klein and Ms. Marije Knijff will be formally appointed once the Milan central division is officially opened on 26 June 2024, as they are required to take an oath in open court before taking up their duties.

The Milan seat of the UPC's central division replaces that previously assigned to London prior to the UK leaving the UPC project.  The other seats of the central division are Paris and Munich.

The Milan central division will handle cases on patents involving human necessities (International Patent Classification code A), excluding those involving supplementary protection certificates (SPCs), which will be dealt with by Paris.

For more on the UPC and unitary patent see our dedicated UPC & UP Hub and our regular UPC & UP posts on our IP Notes blog.