Backlog piling up at CJEU
Europe’s highest court resolved fewer cases in 2012 than in 2011, according to data published on Wednesday.
The number of completed cases at the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) fell from 638 to 595, while the number of new cases also dropped, from 688 to 632.
Despite the number of new cases falling, the total is still higher than the amount of completed cases, showing that that the court’s workload is building. Pending cases totalled 886 last year, up from 849 in 2011.
But the CJEU said that on average it made preliminary rulings within 15.7 months, which is its lowest ever level. A statement said this figure shows that the court is increasingly efficient when dealing with the rulings, which are separate from direct action and appeals.
Similar trends emerged from the General Court, but it processed more completed cases (688) than new disputes (617).
The data is not broken down to show how many cases apply to each area of law, but the number of IP cases before both courts is believed to be increasingly high.
“There is no let up in IP issues in general, not just trademarks or patents,” said Graham Burnett-Hall, partner at Marks & Clerk LLP. “Copyright law and how it relates to the EU Information Society Directive, with more business done electronically, is becoming increasingly important commercially.”
“We are seeing more and more IP legislation, especially with the creation of the Unified Patent Court, which will send questions on EU law (like national courts do) to the CJEU.”
There is some uncertainty about whether the regulations governing the UPC, which will accompany the Unitary Patent, will afford the CJEU jurisdiction over substantive patent law. If the court does have jurisdiction, the CJEU is likely to handle even more cases.
Burnett-Hall said: “The CJEU is getting busier and busier, so we hope that the court can take steps to improve this.”
Despite a drop in the number of new cases in 2012, the court said that 632 is the second highest annual number of new cases in its history. In comparison, a statement said the reduction of new cases at the General Court, from 722 to 617, was pleasing.
