Local Division Hamburg

UPC_CFI_278/2023

Final Order of the Court of First Instance of the Unified Patent Court
delivered on 04/10/2023

HEADNOTES
Extension of deadlines in the case of a plurality of defendants. Appointment of a Representative making an electronic service possible. Alignment of deadlines. Partial consent of the other party.

KEYNOTES
Extension of deadlines according to Rule 19.1 RoP. Extension of deadlines according to Rule 23 RoP. Partial consent of the other party.

APPLICANT/S
1. Guccio Gucci S.p.A.
(Defendant) - Via Tornabuoni 73/r - 50123 - Florence - IT
Statement of claim served on 19/09/2023
Represented by Benjamin Schröer
2. Marbella Pellami S.p.A.
(Defendant) - Via Marco Polo 91 - 56031 - Bientina - IT
Statement of claim served on 19/09/2023
Represented by Benjamin Schröer
3. G Commerce Europe S.p.A.
(Defendant) - Via Don Lorenzo Perosi 6 - 50018 - Scandicci - IT
Statement of claim served on 19/09/2023
Represented by Benjamin Schröer
4. Gucci Logistica S.p.A.
(Defendant) - Via Don Lorenzo Perosi 6 - 50018 - Scandicci - IT
Statement of claim served on 19/09/2023
Represented by Benjamin Schröer
5. GG Luxury Goods GmbH
(Defendant) - Unter den Linden 21 - 10117 - Berlin - DE
Statement of claim served on 09/09/2023
Represented by Benjamin Schröer
6. Gucci France SAS
(Defendant) - 7 Rue Leonce Reynaud - 75116 - Paris - FR
Statement of claim served on 19/09/2023
Represented by Benjamin Schröer
7. GG FRANCE SERVICES SAS
(Defendant) - 37 Rue de Bellechase - 75007 - Paris - FR
Statement of claim served on 19/09/2023
Represented by Benjamin Schröer
8. Gucci Belgium SA
(Defendant) - Boulevard de Waterloo 49 - 1000 - Bruxelles - BE
Statement of claim served on 13/09/2023
Represented by Benjamin Schröer
9. Gucci Sweden AB
(Defendant) - Birger Jarlsgatan 1 - 11145 - Stockholm - SE
Statement of claim served on 19/09/2023
Represented by Benjamin Schröer

RELEVANT PARTY
AGFA NV (Claimant) - Septestraat 27 - 2640 - Mortsel - BE
Represented by Kai Rüting

REFERENCE CODE ECLI: Not provided

PATENT AT ISSUE
Patent no. Proprietor/s
EP3388490 AGFA NV

DECIDING JUDGE
Judge-rapporteur Stefan Schilling

LANGUAGE OF PROCEEDINGS:
English

SUBJECT-MATTER OF THE PROCEEDINGS:
Infringement Action

GROUNDS FOR THE ORDER
The Applicants jointly requested on September 25thto extend the deadline for lodging the statement of defence until 8 January 2024, and to extend the deadline for lodging a preliminary objection until 6 November 2023, both for all Defendants. The Claimant, who has been invited by the Court to comment on the request, confirmed that she consented to an extension of the deadline for lodging the statement of defence until January 8, 2024, to allow the Defendants’ counsel to finalize the submission over the holiday period. She declared not to have given consent to an extension of the deadline for lodging preliminary objections by four weeks - and still does not consent apart from an alignment of the due date for Defendant 5).
As a starting point the deadline for lodging a preliminary objection is within one month of service of the statement of claim (R. 19.1 and R. 271.6 RoP), the deadline for lodging the statement of defence is within three months of service of the statement of claim (R. 23 RoP). The Defendants received service between September 9th(Defendant 5), 13th(Defendant 8) and 19th (all other Defendants), meaning that the deadline for lodging the preliminary objection currently expires on October 9th, 13thand 19thand the deadline for lodging the statement of defence currently expires on December 11th(R. 301.1 RoP), 13thand 19th, respectively.
As the parties agreed on an extension (and alignment) of the deadline for the lodging the statement of defence the Court sees no reason not to grant the extension of this deadline as requested.
Regarding the deadline for lodging a preliminary objection the Claimant agreed to an alignment of the due date for Defendant 5), only. Whereas there is no necessity that each and every deadline have to be aligned for all parties on the claimants’ or the defendants’ side, there is still a procedural advantage especially in the beginning of the work of the Court as it streamlines the work-flow for all users with regard to the still developing nature of the Case Management System.
Furthermore, in the case in question the Judge-rapporteur considers a moderate extension of the time-limit being appropriate in the light of the – then prospective – Representative Schröer considering to appoint himself as Representative for all Defendants. By that move the Representative helped to provide for a prompt and successful service of the statement of Claim to all remaining Defendants via electronic service, though risking a shortening of the relevant deadlines. The extension granted aligns with the UPCs system of time-limits, where the deadline for the preliminary objection expires two months before the deadline for the statement of defence.
The competence of the Judge-rapporteur for this order follows R. 331.1 and 334 (a) RoP.

ORDER
1. The deadline for lodging a preliminary objection is extended for all Defendants until
November 6th2023.
2. The deadline for lodging the statement of defence is extended for all Defendants until January 8th2024.

ORDER DETAILS
Order no. 576288 in ACTION NUMBER: ACT_561734/2023
UPC number: UPC_CFI_278/2023
Action type: Infringement Action
Related proceeding no. Application No.: 576228/2023
Application Type: Generic procedural Application
Issued in Hamburg, October 4th, 2023
Legally qualified Judge Dr. Schilling
Judge-rapporteur
Stefan
Schilling