New UPC appellate decision teaches two long-arm lessons: when waiver occurs and when affiliate entities are not anchor defendants

Context: More and more cases with a long-arm element reach the Unified Patent Court’s (UPC) Court of Appeal (CoA):

• In a decision that is frequently mischaracterized (even today), the CoA referred four long-arm questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Our March 6, 2026 ip fray article contains a table that shows you at once glance what specific fact patterns the preliminary reference covers. One of the four questions has a focus that is rather different from the other three.
• Two weeks ago, the CoA reversed the denial of a preliminary objection (PO) appealed by OpenAI, Adobe, and other parties (March 13, 2026 ip fray article).
• Today the CoA is hearing only the technical merits of what gave rise to the UPC’s first-ever UK injunction (Fujifilm v. Kodak; July 18, 2025 ip fray article). On short notice, and obviously as a result of pre-hearing discussions among the five members of the appellate panel, the CoA modified its hearing agenda for today and Monday (March 30, 2026), taking more time today for the technical merits. That could mean that the likelihood of a reversal of the underlying merits decision has increased substantially. The UK long-arm part, postponed to Monday afternoon, could be mooted if Fujifilm’s Mannheim win was reversed and the loss (over another patent; to be heard on Monday) was affirmed.