How much? Full-time UPC judges will earn €132,000 - €144,000 net a year

Merpel contemplating her next career move...

Following last week's Preparatory Committee meeting where the topics of opt-out and court fees were agreed (see post here), comes news that the judicial salaries for full-time Unified Patent Court judges have been announced.

For a judge in the Court of First Instance you are looking at €11,000 net per month.  This amounts to €132,000 per year in your bank account.  For judges in the Court of Appeal, you get an extra €1,000 net a month, bringing your annual income to €144,000.

With the judicial pension package and allowances still to be finalized, it is hoped (whether realistically or not) that this will be enough to attract Europe's experienced patent judges who users will depend upon to ensure that the UPC's decisions, especially in its early days, are of high quality.

Other UPC news includes:

• The publication of the Rules of Mediation which were agreed in December 2015.  
• The approval of the UPC statutory instrument in the UK House of Commons and House of Lords on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.  This will be subject to an in-depth analysis by fellow Kat, Darren, later on.  
• Practical details as to how to opt-out using the Case Management System can be found here.
• The first budget of the UPC will be the topic of discussion at next week's Finance working group meeting in Paris

The AmeriKat will be back later with a special guest post from a UPC insider.