Schjødt is lead counsel in a patent infringement action before the UPC

On the 16^th of April 2024, the Norwegian company Viking Arm AS filed a patent infringement action against Stanley Black & Decker Inc. and its group companies (the "Stanley Group") before the Nordic Baltic Regional Division of the Unified Patent Court ("UPC").

Viking Arm AS is a leading innovator and supplier of handheld jacks. The action concerns the infringement of Viking Arm AS' unitary patent EP 3953541 (EP'541). The patent protects an invention used by Viking Arm AS' product VIKING ARM®. VIKING ARM® was launched in Norway in 2019 and is now commercialized in 37 countries across the globe.

The Stanley Group uses a lowering mechanism for a handheld jacking tool that the group is now offering and placing on the markets across the globe, including the UPC Member States, and which Viking Arm AS is of the opinion that it infringes upon EP'541. The Stanley Group has refused to cease and desist with the lowering mechanism for the handheld jacking tool and therefore Viking Arm AS has commenced infringement action against the Stanley Group before the Nordic Baltic Regional Division of the UPC.

The UPC opened on the 1^st of June 2023 and comprises a Court of First Instance, a Court of Appeal (in Luxembourg) and a Registry. The Nordic Baltic Regional Division (for Sweden, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) has their seat in Stockholm and is part of the Court of First Instance. The action is the sixth infringement action to be filed before the Nordic Baltic Regional Division since 1^st
of June 2023^[1]. ^[2]

Schjødt is the lead counsel for Viking Arm AS and the litigation team consist of Christopher Tehrani, from the Stockholm office, and Halvor Manshaus and Thomas Hagen from the Oslo office. The team also includes Hilda Melander and Hanna Wennås from the Stockholm office and Sigurd Fjærtoft-Andersen from the Oslo office.

^{[1] Based on: The Unified Patent Court, Case load of the Court since start of operation in June 2023 – update end March 2024, https://www.unified-patent-cou....}

^{[2] Regarding this paragraph: Information has been gathered from the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA) and the website of the Unified Patent Court.}