by Bernward Zollner

In a recent decision of the Federal Supreme Court dated 26 August 2014 (docket-No. X ZB 19/12) a further appeal of an applicant pursuing his patent application was rejected. Already the German Patent and Trademark Office had rejected the patent application. The Appeal of the applicant against this decision had been rejected by the Federal Patent Court. Against this decision the applicant submitted a further appeal to the Federal Supreme Court arguing that the Federal Patent Court should have appointed a technical expert. The Federal Supreme Court has rejected this further appeal.

In the reasoning it is pointed out that the Technical Senate of the Federal Patent Court does have the technical experience and know how to evaluate technical factual situations for the decisions to be handed down. This does, however, not exclude that in a particular situation the appointment of an external technical expert may be suitable or may even be necessary if the particular case concerns technical questions which cannot be adjudicated by the (technical) judges of the Federal Patent Court. Not appointing an external technical expert can be a reason for a further appeal, however, only particular factual circumstances which were not shown in this further appeal could be a reason for the Federal Patent Court to appoint an external expert in order to be able to evaluate technical questions raised in a particular technical field.


_____________________________

To make sure you do not miss out on regular updates from the Kluwer Patent Blog, please subscribe here.


Kluwer IP Law

The 2022 Future Ready Lawyer survey showed that 79% of lawyers think that the importance of legal technology will increase for next year. With Kluwer IP Law you can navigate the increasingly global practice of IP law with specialized, local and cross-border information and tools from every preferred location. Are you, as an IP professional, ready for the future?

Learn how Kluwer IP Law can support you.

Kluwer IP Law
This page as PDF