(Indirect) infringement

Infringement is unauthorized application of the claimed invention, e.g. by trading in a product that falls within the scope of the claims of a patent. Actively inducing, encouraging or materially contributing to the infringing activity may – in some jurisdictions – also constitute indirect infringement. Infringement by inducement and contributory infringement are two types of indirect patent infringement, recognized in the U.S. In Europe indirect infringement generally relates to the (offer to) supply a means essential to the invention.

(Indirect) infringement, Amendments, Austria, Case Law, Chemical Engineering, Extent of Protection, Validity

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The Austrian Supreme Court decided that a patent owner is free to base an infringement action on a limited version of its claims, irrespectively of initiating formal limitation proceedings. An application for cost reimbursement by the Main Association of the Austrian Social Insurance Institutions, which contained a declaration of the price and the availability of…

(Indirect) infringement, Biologics, Enforcement, Italy

(Trevisan & Cuonzo)/

Whether patent holders marketing branded drugs may assume that the very act of filing of an MA application by generic companies result in patent infringement is one of the hottest issues at the moment being tackled by the IP Chambers of Italian district courts. The IP Chamber of the Milan Court and the IP Chamber…

(Indirect) infringement, Case Law, Enforcement, Spain

(Clifford Chance)/

On 1 March 2010, Commercial Court number 1 of Pamplona handed down a judgement dismissing a declaratory non-infringement action filed by L.C. against N. The Court rejected the claim in its entirety, on the ground that L.C. lacked “locus standi”, as it was not L.C. but a third party who was supposedly to carry out…

(Indirect) infringement, Case Law, Equivalents, Extent of Protection, Netherlands, Scope of protection

(Brinkhof)/

The District Court of The Hague holds that in case of ambiguities in the claim language the skilled man will consult the prosecution history to determine the scope of protection. The patent can not be construed in such manner that it would lack novelty over prior art from which the patent was explicitly delimited during…

(Cross-border) jurisdiction, (Indirect) infringement, Case Law, Equivalents, Spain

(Clifford Chance)/

The Barcelona Court of Appeal found that the process used by the defendants to obtain amlodipine was not equivalent to the process protected by the patent in suit. The Court relied on the three Catnic questions test, applied by the English Courts until 2004, to come to this conclusion that the patent was not infringed…

(Indirect) infringement, Case Law, Equivalents, Mechanical Engineering, Netherlands

(Brinkhof)/

The District Court of The Hague held that Abbott does not infringe Medinol’s patent. According to the Court there is also no reason to accept infringement by equivalence, since the meander patterns in the infringing embodiment fulfill another function than the claimed ‘second meander patterns’ as further explained in the patent in suit. This means…

(Indirect) infringement, Case Law, Extent of Protection, Netherlands, Scope of protection, Validity

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The District Court of The Hague finds that the generic products of the defendants fall under the scope of protection of both of Mundipharma’s patents, which are related to controlled release oxycodone formulations. According to the District Court, the scope of protection of the patents is not limited to products wherein all oxycodone is within…

(Indirect) infringement, Chemical Engineering, Extent of Protection, Inventive step, Netherlands, Revocation, Scope of protection, Validity

(Brinkhof)/

In these infringement proceedings before the Preliminary Relief Judge of the District Court of The Hague the defendant argued that the claimants should not have received an SPC for valaciclovir, since not valaciclovir, but its parent drug aciclovir is the ‘active ingredient’ Because aciclovir is not protected by the basic patent, and the market authorization…

(Indirect) infringement, Case Law, Electrical Engineering, Netherlands, Prior use right

(Brinkhof)/

In these infringement proceedings initiated by Agfa against Xingraphics the Court held Agfa’s patent valid and dismissed Xingraphics cross border declaration of non-infringement due to lack of jurisdiction. Agfa’s infringement claim was dismissed as it was not sufficiently substantiated. Agfa was not allowed to supplement its evidence, since it had failed in a previous stage…

(Indirect) infringement, Case Law, Enforcement, Injunction, Netherlands, Validity

(Brinkhof)/

This is the first case in the Netherlands in which a patentee, whose patent was nullified in first instance in proceedings on the merits, requested a prohibition of infringement of this patent in preliminary injunction proceedings pending appeal of the first instance merits decision. The Preliminary Injunction Judge of the Court dismissed the request as…