Erik Krahbichler and SWAT Medical AB v. Meril Italy srl, Meril Gmbh, Meril Life Sciences Pvt Ltd., Order of the Court of First Instance of the UPC Central division (Paris seat), 23 September 2024, Case no. ORD_36092/2024
Request to access written pleadings and evidence
Judge-rapporteur Catallozzi held that the mere fact of operating in the same field as the patent in dispute is not sufficient to establish a specific interest in the case documents on the part of the applicant and thus rejected the request to access to written pleadings and evidence filed by Erik Krahbichler and SWAT Medical AB
“15. This judge-rapporteur holds that the mere fact of operating in the same field as the patent in dispute is not sufficient to establish a specific interest in the case documents on the part of the applicant. Indeed, it is not adequately alleged, nor much less proven, that the applicants are competitors of the parties to the action, and, as such, concerned with the validity of the patent.
“16. Therefore, the applicant’s request for access to files seems to be based on a general interest in investigation and while such an interest cannot be disregarded as a general rule, it may not be sufficient to grant access to the sought documents where the interests mentioned in Article 45 ‘UPCA’ were deemed to be more relevant.
“17. In the case at hand, the protection of the integrity of the ongoing proceedings outweighs the interest in information asserted by the applicant, so that the parties can present their arguments and evidence and so that the court can conduct the proceedings impartially and independently, without influence and interference from external parties in the public sector (see also Vienna LD, order of 12 August 2024, UPC_CFI_33/2024, and, with regard to a similar application filed by the same applicants, North Baltic RD, order of 17 September 2024, UPC_CFI_8/2023).
“18. In addition, also the necessity to protect personal interests comes into play and conflicts with the granting of access to all the written pleadings.”
The entire order can be read here.
