UNION congress in Sicily

On June 1st 2017 Tony Tangena our immediate past president took part in a panel discussion in a plenary session of a Union congress in Catania (Sicily). The title of the session was ‘Strategies in a time of change for EU-wide patent infringement’. In the panel were 3 judges: Dr. Klaus Bacher (DE) from the Bundesgerichtshof in Karlsruhe, the Hon. Mr Justice Sir Colin Birss (UK) from the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, and Dr. Massimo Scuffi (IT) President of the Court of Aosta. Moreover there were 2 industry representatives: Mrs Gabriele Mohsler (DE) from Ericsson (member of the previous epi Council) and Mr. Chris Hardingham (UK) from NXP semiconductors. The session was moderated by Sabine Rojahn (DE) from Taylor Wessing, who is also chair of the Union-IP Litigation Committee. The discussions were very lively. Topics discussed included: are there different strategies for different industries such as pharma, chemistry, electronics and telecom?; will the UPC put an end to forum shopping or will there be preferred local/regional divisions?; will bifurcation be used in the UPC procedures?; will the particular language of the court be of importance?; to what extent is the decision for the UPC cost driven?