Recently, Chinese car manufacturer BYD successfully persuaded the Unified Patent Court (UPC) to exempt its UK subsidiary from a battery technology patent infringement case, with the court ruling that it had no jurisdiction over the company’s relevant conduct. Previously, the claimant, BMS Innovations LLC, had sought to include BYD UK in the infringement proceedings, but the judge did not uphold this request.

On 19 May 2026, the Hague Regional Division of the Unified Patent Court issued a ruling, noting that BMS Innovations had only alleged that BYD (UK) Limited had committed infringing acts within the UK, whereas the UK does not fall within the UPC’s territorial jurisdiction, and that the company had not committed any alleged infringing acts within the EU or the UPC’s coverage area.

The case was brought by BMS Innovations in December 2025. The core patent (EP3393001) covers energy-saving management technology for rechargeable batteries used in devices such as electric vehicles and mobile phones. The patent was originally filed by LG in 2018, but LG is not a party to the proceedings. The claimant alleges that BYD Co., Ltd., BYD Auto Co., Ltd. and BYD UK have infringed the patent.

BYD argued that the UPC should decline to exercise international jurisdiction over BYD UK, whilst also contending that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the alleged infringements by the two Chinese entities within the UK. The court upheld BYD UK’s defence but has not yet issued a final ruling regarding the Chinese entities.

The Hague Regional Division stated that the issue of ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ must be addressed in the main proceedings and may depend on a forthcoming preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In March 2026, the UPC requested clarification from the CJEU regarding ‘when a patent holder may bring proceedings against a company outside its territorial jurisdiction’.

Pending clarification from the Court of Justice of the European Union, the UPC has previously issued injunctions targeting the UK market (such as the July 2025 ban on Kodak selling infringing products in the UK). Meanwhile, the UK Court of Appeal has also stayed proceedings in cases such as Dyson v. Trumax, pending a uniform interpretation of the long-arm jurisdiction issue.