German Patent Disputes Newly Spiced

In recent years there has been a substantial increase in patent lawsuits before the German Courts. Many of these have been instigated by plaintiffs from the US, the UK and other European countries, and it is not unusual for the defendant party to also be non-German. In fact the German patent courts in general, and the patent-specialized District Court of D¸sseldorf in particular, are Europe's most frequented patent venue, with some 500-600 cases being tried in D¸sseldorf every year. The time factor: First instance cases can be expected to take less than one year until a decision is rendered. Preliminary injunctions may be granted within days and without a hearing, if infringement and validity of the patent are demonstrably clear and the case is urgent.

A fundamental distinction of the German system rests with the formal division of opposition and nullity proceedings on the one hand - these are conducted before the EPO's judicial boards and the German Federal Patent Court (both in Munich) - and separate infringement proceedings, which are heard by patent-specialized District Courts, on the...