Forum-shopping at the UPC

Article 1 of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) agreement declares the UPC to be a “court common to the contracting member states”. However, within the “common” court there will be numerous divisions, a number of which may be competent to hear any given dispute. Yet, each division will have its own particular characteristics. This article considers the scope for ‘division-shopping’ within the UPC and the factors that litigants should keep in mind when doing so.