Obtaining a decision is one thing; having it complied with in eighteen States is another. The Agreement has provided for this: no exequatur, no State-by-State recognition (A82 UPCA).

Enforceability in all Contracting Member States

Decisions and orders of the UPC are enforceable in any Contracting Member State, an order for enforcement being appended to the decision (A82(1) UPCA). They are directly enforceable from their date of service (R354.1 RoP UPC).

Enforcement procedures remain national: the decision is enforced in accordance with the law of the State where enforcement takes place, under the same conditions as a decision given by its own courts (A82(3) UPCA and R354.1 RoP UPC). A French bailiff will therefore enforce an injunction of the Munich Local Division just like a judgment of the Paris tribunal judiciaire.

Conditions for enforcing a decision on the merits

The injunction, the corrective measures and the other measures ordered in the decision on the merits may be enforced against the defendant only after (R118.8 RoP UPC):

  • the claimant has notified the Court of the part of the measures it intends to enforce;
  • it has provided, where applicable, a certified translation of the decision into the official language of the State in which enforcement is to take place;
  • and the Registry has served that notice (and the translation) on the defendant.

These formalities do not apply to orders for provisional measures, which are enforceable as soon as they are served (R354.1 RoP UPC; UPC, Court of Appeal, 14 Oct. 2025, Kodak v. Fujifilm, UPC_CoA_699/2025, headnote).

Security

Enforcement may be made subject to security (deposit, bank guarantee) intended to compensate the other party should the decision subsequently be reversed, in particular in the case of injunctions (A82(2) UPCA, R118.8 and R352 RoP UPC).

If an enforced decision is subsequently varied or revoked, the party that enforced it may be ordered to compensate the injury caused; and if the patent is amended or revoked after the end of the proceedings, the Court may decide that the decision is no longer enforceable (R354.2 RoP UPC).

Penalty payments

Principle

A party that fails to comply with an order may be ordered to pay a penalty payment payable to the Court (and not to the opponent), proportionate to the importance of the order, without prejudice to damages (A82(4) UPCA and R354.3 RoP UPC). The UPC’s Treasury, and not the patentee, thus reaps the fruits of disobedience.

At the request of a party or of its own motion, the first-instance panel rules on the penalty payment after hearing the parties; its decision may be appealed only with leave (R354.4 RoP UPC). The request for enforcement is subject to a fee of €1,300 (table of court fees, section III).

The Court of Appeal’s instructions for use

The Court of Appeal has clarified the regime of penalty payments (UPC, Court of Appeal, 14 Oct. 2025, Kodak v. Fujifilm, UPC_CoA_699/2025, headnote):

  • the penalty payment is in principle laid down in the decision on the merits, but it may also be ordered later, by a separate order, without an appeal against the main decision, if circumstances change;
  • its amount must be dissuasive enough to compel compliance while remaining proportionate, and the order must specify the triggering event (preferably per period, per product or per act), possibly with a ceiling that the Court may raise;
  • it should in principle set the time limit for compliance; the applicant proposes the amount and time limit in its request, and the defendant must discuss them at that stage, without waiting for the time limit to expire.

Enforcement of costs

Failure to pay costs that a party has been ordered to bear is a matter of enforcement, not of security for costs on appeal (UPC, Court of Appeal, 30 Oct. 2025, Oerlikon v. Bhagat, UPC_CoA_8/2025, headnote; see “Legal costs”).

Decisions by default

A decision by default is enforceable, the Court being able to stay enforcement until it has ruled on an application to set it aside, or to make enforcement subject to security (R355.4 RoP UPC).