Case Law
Rule 48: Preliminary objection

Court of First Instance - Munich (DE) Central Division - Section, Order dated 04/10/2023, President and Fellows of Harvard College v. NanoString Technologies Europe Limited (Case number UPC_CFI_252/2023, ORD_573299/2023)
Example of decision on a preliminary objection questioning of the competence of the UPC while an action on the validity of the title is pending before a national court: “Under these circumstances, for reasons of procedural economy and efficiency, the JR is of the opinion that the present Preliminary objection should be dealt with in the main proceedings (during the oral hearing and decided on in/together with the decision on the merits).
By the time the oral hearing in the present UPC Revocation action will be held, the oral proceedings at the German Federal Patent Court will most likely have been concluded and the case may even have been fully concluded in first instance. In addition, by the time of the oral hearing in the present action, there may have been further relevant developments in relation to the German Revocation action that can be taken into account by this Court. To deal with the Preliminary objection in the main proceedings will furthermore give parties an opportunity to be heard on the Preliminary objection at the oral hearing to be held in the main proceedings.
Finally, the Court notes that in response to the Preliminary Order, in which the Court informed the parties that it was inclined to decide on the Preliminary objection in the main proceedings, none of the parties brought forward any reasons why the Preliminary objection should be dealt with at this stage rather than in the main proceedings.”