Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court (RoP)

Rule 201

Experiments ordered by the Court

1. Without prejudice to the possibility for parties or parties' experts to carry out experiments, the Court may, of its own motion (but only after hearing the parties) or on a reasoned request by a party, order an experiment to prove a statement of fact for the purpose of proceedings before the Court.
2. A party requesting to be allowed to prove a statement of fact by means of experiments shall lodge a request as soon as practicable in the written procedure or the interim procedure to carry out experiments which shall

   • (a) identify the facts intended to be established by the experiments, describe the proposed experiments in detail and the reasons for carrying out the proposed experiments,
     (b) propose an expert to carry out such experiments,
     (c) disclose any previous attempts to carry out similar experiments.

3. Other parties to the proceedings shall be invited to state whether they dispute the facts intended to be established by the experiments. They shall also be invited to comment on the request, including the identity of the expert proposed and the description of the experiments.
4. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court the party requesting experiments shall initially bear the costs of the experiment.
5. The order of the Court allowing the experiments shall specify the detailed experiments and

   • (a) the name and address of the expert or experts who are to carry out the experiments and draw up the report on the experiments,
     (b) the time period for carrying out the experiments and, where appropriate, the exact time and place where they are to be carried out,
     (c) if necessary, other conditions for carrying out the experiments,
     (d) the time period for presenting the report on the experiments and, where appropriate, directions relating to the contents of the report.

6. Where appropriate, the Court may order that the experiments be carried out in the presence of the parties and their experts.
7. Once the report on the experiments is presented to the Court, it shall invite the parties to comment on it either in writing or during the oral hearing.

Notes

Status: 15th draft of 31st May 2013