Decision Keyword:
Patent law basics for infringement and injunction proceedings; 10x Genomics / Curio Bioscience
Law applied:
R. 206.1 VerfO i.V.m. R. 211.1 VerfO
Headnotes:
- If in the case of a European patent a person is registered as the patent proprietor in the respective national register, there is a rebuttable presumption that the person recorded in the respective national register is entitled to be registered (R. 8.5(c) RoP). The result of such a legal presumption is to reverse the burden of explanation and proof with regard to the presumed fact. If the Applicant can refer to his listing in the registers relevant to the respective dispute, it is up to the Defendant's side to set out and, if necessary, prove that the Applicant is not entitled to be registered.
- If a patent claim contains stated purposes, these usually serve to improve understanding of the invention. As a rule, they have the indirect effect of defining the subject matter protected by the patent in such a way that it must not only fulfil the spatial-physical features, but must also be designed to be usable for the purpose stated in the patent claim.
- If the Applicant lacks positive knowledge of an infringement of property rights, grossly negligent ignorance or wilful blindness to an infringement of intellectual property rights is considered equivalent to such knowledge. The patent proprietor is not under a general obligation to observe the market. However, as soon as the holder of a property right becomes aware of specific circumstances that suggest an infringement of his property right, he is expected to take all measures readily available to him and to further clarify the circumstances. It is up to the Defendant to explain such circumstances triggering a duty to provide information.
- While Art. 69(4) EPC only provides for the provision of security for costs by the claimant, R. 158 RoP extends the group of addressees of such an Order to include "the Parties" and thus also the Defendant in the main action. In urgent proceedings, there is neither scope nor (with regard to R. 211.1(d) RoP) a need for the (analogous) application of the provision, given the urgent nature of such proceedings.
UPC, Local Division Düsseldorf, Order issued on 30 April 2024 – UPC_CFI_463/2023 –
Download Judgment (machine translation)
Picture credits: Prrrettty_AdobeStock.com