Once the dispute has been decided, the bill still has to be settled: who pays the costs of the proceedings? Not to be confused with damages (the compensation owed to the patent proprietor), nor with the court fees paid to the Court: what is at stake here are the costs incurred by the parties — fees of lawyers and patent attorneys, costs of experts, witnesses and translation — and the court fees paid, which the unsuccessful party must reimburse to the successful party.
The principle: costs borne by the unsuccessful party
Reasonable and proportionate legal costs and other expenses incurred by the successful party are, as a general rule, borne by the unsuccessful party, unless equity requires otherwise, up to a ceiling (A69(1) UPCA).
The Court may adjust this rule (A69(2) and (3) UPCA):
- where a party succeeds only in part or in exceptional circumstances, it may order that costs be apportioned equitably or that each party bear its own costs;
- each party bears any unnecessary costs it has caused.
Partial success does not require proportional apportionment: where the dismissed claim was relatively minor and did not give rise to additional costs, the successful party may recover its costs in full (UPC, Court of Appeal, 30 Apr. 2025, Insulet v. EOFlow, UPC_CoA_768/2024, headnote 4). An intervener is, as a rule, treated in the same way as the party it supports (UPC, Court of Appeal, 27 Nov. 2025, Chainzone and Strabag v. Swarco, UPC_CoA_70/2025, headnote 3).
Ceilings
Reimbursement of representation costs is not unlimited: it is capped according to a scale set by the Administrative Committee on the basis of the value of the proceedings (R152 RoP UPC and decision of the Administrative Committee of 24 April 2023, annex):
| Value of the proceedings (up to…) | Ceiling for recoverable representation costs |
|---|---|
| €250,000 | €38,000 |
| €500,000 | €56,000 |
| €1,000,000 | €112,000 |
| €2,000,000 | €200,000 |
| €4,000,000 | €400,000 |
| €8,000,000 | €600,000 |
| €16,000,000 | €800,000 |
| €30,000,000 | €1,200,000 |
| €50,000,000 | €1,500,000 |
| more than €50,000,000 | €2,000,000 |
The ceiling applies per instance, regardless of the number of parties, claims or patents; in the event of partial success, it is reduced proportionately (decision of 24 April 2023, Article 1). It is merely a safety net: only costs already found to be reasonable and proportionate are measured against it (same decision, recital 1).
At the request of a party, the ceiling may be raised (by up to 50% for a value not exceeding one million euros, 25% up to 50 million, and up to 5 million euros beyond that) in particularly complex or multilingual cases, or lowered if its application would threaten the economic existence of the requesting party (SME, university, research organisation, natural person…); the request is to be made as early as possible, and at the latest before the closure of the interim procedure (decision of 24 April 2023, Article 2).
The value of the proceedings used for the ceiling is determined by the judge-rapporteur during the interim procedure (R104(j) and R152.3 RoP UPC), in accordance with the Administrative Committee’s guidelines on the value of the dispute, as amended on 4 November 2025 and applicable since 1 January 2026. The unsuccessful party therefore does not have to soak up the entirety of its opponent’s — sometimes lavish — fees.
The procedure for the determination of costs
The decision on the merits rules on the principle of the obligation to bear costs (R118.5 RoP UPC). The amount is the subject of separate proceedings (R150 RoP UPC):
- the successful party lodges its application within one month of service of the decision, stating the costs claimed (court fees, representation, witnesses, experts, other expenses) and the preliminary estimate it had submitted (R151 RoP UPC);
- the judge-rapporteur may request supporting evidence, invites the unsuccessful party to comment, then decides in writing and sets the time limit for payment (R156 RoP UPC).
The Court may also grant an interim award of costs in the decision on the merits (R150.2 RoP UPC).
The decision on costs may be appealed only with the leave of a standing judge of the Court of Appeal, requested within 15 days (R157 and R221 RoP UPC) — a reminder that at the UPC, even the bill can be litigated. The appeal has no suspensive effect, save in exceptional circumstances (UPC, Court of Appeal, 24 Nov. 2025, Suinno v. Microsoft, UPC_CoA_911/2025, points 13 and 14).
Security for costs
At the request of a party, the Court may at any time order the other party to provide adequate security for the costs it may be ordered to reimburse (A69(4) UPCA and R158.1 RoP UPC); if security is not provided within the time limit, a decision by default may be given (R158.5 RoP UPC).
Where compelling reasons justify it, the request may be made late, even after the summons to the oral hearing, but not after the decision on costs: security protects against a future risk of non-recovery; the fact that the party ordered to pay at first instance has not yet paid is a matter of enforcement, and does not justify security on appeal (UPC, Court of Appeal, 30 Oct. 2025, Oerlikon v. Bhagat, UPC_CoA_8/2025, headnote).