Germany

CJEU, Competition, FRAND, Germany, Patents, SEP

(City, University of London)/

The 2015 landmark decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Huawei/ZTE established a balanced framework for licensing standard essential patents (SEPs), striking a compromise between the interests of SEPs holders and implementers. The ruling notoriously clarified when SEP holders can seek injunctions without abusing their dominant market position. It stated…

Case Law, EPO, EPO Decision, Germany, Inventive step, UPC

, (Reddie & Grose LLP)/ /2 Comments

UPC 252/2023 NanoString v Harvard ACT_551180/2023 (UPC_CFI_252/2023) The UPC’s Munich Central Division has recently issued its decision revoking Harvard’s EP 2794928 B1 (“the Patent”) in DE, NL, and FR, with other EPO member states likely excluded from the decision on commercial grounds having lapsed during opposition proceedings in 2019. The decision is appealable. The NanoString decision…

(Cross-border) jurisdiction, European Union, FRAND, Germany, Patents, SEP, Unitary Patent, United Kingdom, UPC

(Hoffmann Eitle)/ /1 Comment

Following up on Thorsten’s blog post yesterday, I report on the second day of the Oxviews 9th Intellectual Property and Competition Forum, which took place in the Justizpalast in Munich on 19 June. This impressive building deserves the name Palast (in English “Palace”), and was a fitting venue for this meeting of thought leaders in…

European Union, Germany, India, Technology, United Kingdom, United States of America, UPC

/ /4 Comments

Nokia has started legal actions against Amazon in the US, Germany, India, the UK and at the Unified Patent Court for the unauthorized use of Nokia’s video-related technologies in streaming services and devices. Separately, Nokia filed cases in the US against HP. In a blogpost, Arvin Patel, chief licensing officer new segments at Nokia, states…

European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Unitary Patent, UPC

/ /32 Comments

The Unified Patent Court has formally announced that, for the time being, competencies which were originally assigned to the London seat of the UPC central division, will be divided between Munich and Paris. Remarkably, there is no mention of Milan as third seat of the central division. Only two months ago, a spokesperson for the…

European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Unitary Patent, United Kingdom, UPC

/ /12 Comments

France, Germany and Italy are holding trilateral talks on redistribution of the competencies that were originally allocated to the London seat of the UPC’s central division among Paris, Munich and Milan. According to the German Ministry of Justice, a decision is expected shortly. A spokesperson told Kluwer IP Law: ‘Once an agreement has been reached,…

Germany, Litigation, Trade secrets

(Arnold Ruess)/

It is now almost a year since the new confidentiality regime for patent disputes in Germany entered into force. Since then, confidentiality requests have become a standard procedure in German patent litigation. Courts and counsel have translated the legal requirements into manageable routines. The Munich Regional Court even published guidance on how to proceed with…

Case Law, Germany, Validity

(Krieger Mes & Graf V. Der Groeben)/

This decision dealt with the practically important question of whether the claim can still be waived in the proceedings on the complaint against denial of leave to appeal, i.e. after the conclusion of the appeal proceedings. This becomes particularly relevant if the patent in suit is held invalid and the opposing party does not agree…

European Union, Germany, Netherlands, Unitary Patent, UPC

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The Unified Patent Court will lead to a concentration of forces in the European patent litigation sector. That is the expectation of Richard Ebbink, partner at Brinkhof, and Georg Rauh, partner at Vossius. In September, their firms announced they would start cooperating in a new brand, Vossius and Brinkhof UPC Litigators. Kluwer IP Law interviewed…