MILAN LOCAL DIVISION Law and Practice Contributed by: Vittorio Cerulli Irelli, Lorenzo Battarino and Daniel Borgogni, Trevisan & Cuonzo
of the infringement is not publicly available for the patentee. 3.6 Court of Appeal Substantive Jurisprudence This does not apply.
infringement of two patents held by Dainese (ORD_64124/2024), one of which is also in force in Spain, the Milan LD rejected the preliminary objection filed by Alpinestars and confirmed that, when the patentee seizes the LD of the domicile of the defendant, then that LD has jurisdiction to rule over alleged infringements taking place outside UPC territory. This decision confirmed the long-arm jurisdic - tion of the UPC in light of both the recent CJEU decision in BSH v Electrolux (Case C-339/22) and the existing precedents of the same UPC (Fujifilm v Kodak by Düsseldorf LD; Mul-T-Lock v IMC by Paris CD). Preliminary Hearings Under Rule 197.4 in Preservation of Evidence Cases In at least the most recent cases of requests for preservation of evidence, the Milan LD has been summoning the applicant to a prelimi - nary hearing set under Rule 197.4 RoP. This is mainly to request clarifications as to some aspects of the application and to discuss details of the execution of the measure (for example, the specific names of the representatives and technical experts attending, locations where the evidence sought might be held, and keywords that might be used to search for specific infor - mation in digital format if needed). This allows the order to reflect such details and so better define the exact scope of the preservation of evi - dence measures, in view of balancing the right of the applicant to collect and preserve relevant evidence, and the right of the target entity to protect its activity from hindrance as well as its confidential information. Request for Information Under Article 67 UPCA On at least one occasion, in the above-men - tioned final decision issued on 4 November 2024
4. Procedural Issues 4.1 Hearing Structure
Hearings (and interim conferences) held so far before the Milan LD have been well structured and in line with the emerging practice of other local divisions. In preparation for the interim conference/hearing, the judge rapporteur typi - cally issues a case management order request - ing the parties to submit a short brief summa - rising their arguments and requests a few days prior to the interim conference/hearing (see, eg, ORD_27218/2024 and ORD_598364/2023). The judge rapporteur provides a short introduction at the outset of the interim conference/hearing mentioning the main topics to be addressed, without providing the views of the panel on such issues. This is in line with the traditional approach of Italian judges in national practice. Whenever during an interim conference/hearing it is necessary to discuss information or docu - ments to be treated as confidential, the interim conference/hearing is briefly interrupted (and the audio recording thereof is paused as well) to allow any member of the public or other persons not part of the confidentiality club temporarily to exit the courtroom. 4.2 Key Procedural Issues Jurisdiction Over Infringements Outside the Territory of the UPC With the order of 8 April 2025 issued in the context of pending merit proceedings for
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