The EU courts have published their 2025 judicial statistics, revealing important developments in workload, case duration, and the distribution of different types of proceedings. These trends matter directly for practitioners appearing before the Court of Justice and the General Court. This summary highlights the key figures and explains what they mean, with a particular focus on IP litigation.

For intellectual property practitioners, the statistics confirm that IP litigation before the EU courts is both high in volume and procedurally stable. At the General Court, 303 IP cases were closed in 2025 with an average duration of 13.1 months, showing that EUIPO appeals continue to move efficiently despite representing roughly a quarter of the Court’s entire caseload.

At the Court of Justice, IP activity remained limited: 39 EUIPO appeals and 11 preliminary references were lodged, illustrating that only a small proportion of disputes progress beyond the General Court.

Finally, EUIPO’s 2024 data shows that 83.7% of Board of Appeal decisions were confirmed by the EU courts, indicating that overturning an EUIPO decision remains relatively rare. While the 2025 confirmation rate is not yet available, the trend suggests a high level of stability in outcomes.

Here is a full overview of the statistics:

1. Overall Overview (both courts)

• Cases brought: 1,878 (up from 1,706)
• Cases closed: 1,898 (up from 1,784)
• Pending cases: 2,489 (down from 2,509)

A key development in 2025 was the reform transferring jurisdiction for certain preliminary rulings (in six specific areas) from the Court of Justice to the General Court.

2. The Court of Justice

• Cases brought: 889 (slightly down from 920)
• Cases closed: 774 (stable compared with previous years)
• Pending cases: 1,322 (up from 1,207)
• Average duration of proceedings: 16.7 months (down from 17.7 months)
• Requests for preliminary rulings: significant number of requests made by Italian (110) and Polish (63) courts

3. The General Court

• Cases brought: 989 (+26%, highest ever)
• Cases closed: 1,124 (+22%, highest ever)
• Pending cases: 1,167 (lowest since 2007)
• Average duration of proceedings: 16 months (down from 18.5 months)

• Requests for preliminary rulings: total of 65 requests from 17 different member states, with Germany contributing the highest number (21)

  Trends in Direct Actions:

• Intellectual property: slight decrease (-4%)
• Civil service cases: strong increase (+43%)
• Restrictive measures: strong increase (linked to the Russia-Ukraine war)
• Economic/monetary policy cases: notable decrease

4. Intellectual Property Cases

The Court of Justice

• Cases brought: 51 (same as 2024)
  • References for a preliminary ruling: 11
  • Direct actions: 1
  • Appeals: 39
• Cases closed: 53 (up from 51)
  • Judgements/opinions: 21
  • Orders: 32

The General Court

• Cases brought: 257 (down from 268)
• Cases closed: 303 (up from 276)
  • Judgments: 242
  • Orders: 61
• Pending cases: 276 (down from 322)
• Average duration of proceedings: 13.1 months (slightly up from 12.8 months)

Conclusion

The overall workload of the EU courts remains high, but the average duration of proceedings decreased in both courts. The General Court’s performance improved significantly, closing a record number of cases and reducing its backlog to the lowest level in 18 years.