This paper addresses the approach of the Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) towards the principle of transparency focusing on the standards set for public access to written pleadings and evidence lodged at the UPC and recorded by its Registry. We argue that the UPC Court of Appeal shapes a concept of openness with its decision in the case Ocado v Stothers, which goes way beyond the known standards for public access to such documents in the major national forums for patent litigation in the European Union. Although this tendency is most welcome, at the same time, the Court of Appeal also limited the open access to documents in an unfounded manner by holding that the general interest of justice and public order can restrict the right to access and by requiring representation for access to court documents by the public.
Series
Intellectual Property Law & Practice ; 20, 1, 2025, 1747-1540.