The Unified Patent Court (UPC) continues to expand its caseload at a significant pace in 2026, but the more consequential development may be a gradual redistribution of litigation activity away from Germany-based divisions (Munich, Dusseldorf, Mannheim, and Hamburg). The latest statistics (PDF) through April 2026 indicate a steady stream of filings but also an increasingly visible diversification in forum selection across the UPC system.
Through April, the court logged 170 new (2026) cases (of all categories) at the Court of First Instance (CFI), up from 132 over the same stretch in 2025. Although April itself was somewhat softer than March, recording 45 new filings compared to 53 the month before, the broader trend remains firmly upward.
German dominance begins to ease
The more significant development, however, lies not in the overall volume of cases but in their geographic distribution. The Germany-based divisions have historically attracted the overwhelming majority of infringement actions. Those structural advantages remain significant, but the latest data suggests that the concentration of UPC litigation within Germany is gradually reduced.
Collectively, the four German Local Divisions accounted for 66% percent of year-to-date infringement compaits. While still dominant, that figure marks a substantial decline from the 78.4 percent share recorded during the period from June to December 2025. The filing trends have also revived an ongoing institutional debate concerning the concentration of UPC litigation within Germany. In April 2026, the European Patent Lawyers Association (EPLAW) published a summary of member responses addressing the “uneven” distribution of UPC cases (April 13, 2026 ip fray article).
Although April’s infringement docket consisted of only fourteen filings, too limited a sample to support definitive conclusions on its own, the broader pattern (comparing year-to-date 2026 to the last seven months of 2025) is difficult to dismiss as mere statistical fluctuation.
The provisional measures data reflects a somewhat similar, although less pronounced, pattern — but the sample size is too small to support any conclusions at this point.
Inconsistency between official March and April reports
Notably, the previous statistics report covering January to March 2026 reflected one indicated infringement filing before the Munich seat of the Central Division (CD). However, the updated January-April 2026 figures now show zero such filings, suggesting either a reclassification or correction in the reporting data. The total number of new infringement filings for April is therefore 14. Based on the UPC’s reports for March and April, it looks as if only 13 infringement actions had been filed last month.
Procedural patterns continue to stabilize
Beyond filing distribution, the April 2026 statistics also reflect the continued stabilization of UPC procedural behavior. Through April, defendants filed 81 revocation counterclaims against 65 infringement actions, confirming that validity challenges are routinely brought in the form of counterclaims. Standalone revocation actions, by contrast, remain relatively limited. Only six such actions were filed during the relevant period, four of them before the CD Paris.
The language of proceedings also continues to evolve in a clear direction. English accounted for 71.8 percent of CFI filings and 68.1 percent of Court of Appeal (CoA) matters through April 2026, while German represented approximately one-quarter of filings in both forums.
Through April, the appellate court recorded 58 cases, including 28 merits appeals, alongside a growing number of procedural appeals and leave-to-appeal applications.
Overall, the April 2026 statistics depict a court that is continuing to expand in both scale and institutional maturity. Germany-based divisions remain central to the UPC system, particularly in relation to validity disputes and high-volume patent litigation. However, the concentration of new infringement filings within Germany appears to be gradually declining as litigants increasingly utilize non-German divisions for significant patent disputes.