Germany

Countries, Denmark, EPC, Finland, Germany, Injunction, Inventive step, Netherlands, Opposition, Revocation, United Kingdom, Validity

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

The interesting six-jurisdiction patent case between two of the world’s leading enzyme manufacturers, the Danish companies Danisco A/S (now part of DuPont) and Novozymes A/S has already been subject to earlier blogs both here and several times on EPLAW and PatLit. To recap the story briefly, Novozymes started the proceedings by applying for a preliminary…

(Cross-border) jurisdiction, Enforcement, Germany

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

The Higher Regional Court Dusseldorf decided on 26 April 2012 (docket I-2 U 18/12) that the admissibility (under Article 27 BR) of exclusive licensee’s patent infringement action despite pending NDA proceedings against patentee in another Member State depends on whether the declaratory judgment will have the force of res judicata against licensee. This must be…

Germany, Procedure

(Rospatt Osten Pross)/

by Stefan Lieck In the judgement dated 12/01/2012 (file no. I ZB 43/11), the Federal Supreme Court decided on the question as to whether an administrative fine is to be imposed on the managing director of a limited liability company [GmbH] if previously, both the GmbH as well as its managing director were ordered, upon…

Case Law, Enforcement, Germany, Injunction

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

The presentation of a product at an exhibition within Germany, constitutes use of the shape of the product (protected by trademark law) in the course of trade for advertising purposes, and this is therefore no “offering” or “putting on the market” that product in Germany . Rather, evidence must be provided which shows that the…

Case Law, Electrical Engineering, Germany, Inventive step, Validity

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

When seeking to improve a data structure prescribed in an international standard, the skilled person would consider mechanisms already described in the standard when solving the identified technical problem. If the standard provides a manageable number of possible solutions, each having specific advantages and disadvantages, this provides an incentive to take each of the solutions…

Germany

(Rospatt Osten Pross)/

by Bernward Zollner Earlier this year the Ministry of Justice has submitted a bill which intends to grant a better protection to license agreements in case the licensor has to file a motion for the commencement of insolvency proceedings. According to the current statute the liquidator (insolvency administrator) has the right to terminate a license…

Damages, Enforcement, Germany

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

At the beginning of this year, the German Federal Court of Justice (“FCJ”) rendered in “Tintenpatrone II” (“Ink Cartridge II”) (Docket No. X ZR 94/10) a decision of interest concerning the relation of patentee and exclusive licensee with regard to the claim of damages, following it decisions “Ink Cartridge I” and “Cinch-Plug”. Plaintiff (1) is…

Germany, Procedure

(Rospatt Osten Pross)/

About a month ago Rüdiger Pansch reported on the new “General Terms and Conditions” of the Regional Court of Munich in patent infringement matters (http://kluwerpatentblog.com/2012/03/20/patent-chambers-of-munich-district-court-decree-general-terms-and-conditions/). Now, also the Regional Court of Düsseldorf has put more elaborated advice for the parties in writing. In general, this new procedural order more or less goes along the well-established…