Förderband mit mehreren Reihen portionierter Käsescheiben, die von einer Lebensmittelschneidemaschine ausgegeben werden.

No applicability of the UPCA before national courts

Higher Regional Court (OLG) Karlsruhe, Judgment of February 14, 2024 – 6 U 232/22

Decision Keyword:

Conveyor drive for food slicing machine

Law applied:

European Patent Convention (EPC) Art. 64 (1), (3)

German Patent Act (PatG) Sections 139 (1), (2), Section 140b (1), (3)

Law on International Patent Treaties (IntPatÜG) Art. II Section 1 (1) 1 Sentence 1

Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA) Art. 25 et seq., Art. 56 et seq.

Summary (Machine translation):

  1. The Agreement on a Unified Patent Court does not alter the fact that claims brought before the national courts for infringement of the German part of a European patent without unitary effect and for use of the subject-matter of its application under Art. 2 (2), Art. 64 (1), (3) EPC in conjunction with Art. 139 et seq. PatG and Art. II Section 1 IntPatÜbkG.
  2. The provisions in Art. 56 et seq. UPCA only concern the powers of the Unified Patent Court.
  3. The "substantive law" codified in Art. 25 et seq. UPCA is only applicable in the event of an appeal to the Unified Patent Court.
  4. Grounds of the opposition decision which only explain why the patent is (to a certain extent) valid and the opposition is unsuccessful are not equivalent to the description of the patent; they are merely to be kept in mind as weighty expert opinions when interpreting the patent claim. Only considerations of the opposition decision which justify the partial revocation of the patent in the primarily defended patent claim may replace or supplement the patent description with regard to the deviations from the granted version of the claim which are otherwise maintained under revocation.

Higher Regional Court (OLG) Karlsruhe, Judgment of February 14, 2024 – 6 U 232/22 –

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