Decision keyword:
Cutting tool
Law applied:
European Patent Convention (EPC) Art. 64 para. 1, para. 3
German Patent Act (PatG) § 139 para. 1, para. 2, § 140a para. 1, para. 3, § 140b
Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO) § 529 para. 1 no. 1, no. 2, § 531 para. 2
Summary:
If the purpose specified in a claim is to be fulfilled in accordance with the requirements of the claim by the design of a specific component (in this case: the cooling/lubricant channels), it must be possible to determine that this component is designed in such a way as to ensure that the requirements are met, even if the possible designs of the component are only described by way of example in the patent. It is therefore not sufficient to demonstrate the achievement of a feature by showing that the desired result has been obtained and that the device as such is objectively suitable for this purpose. Rather, the submission must also relate to the spatial and physical design of the device component specified in the claim and to the suitability of this design for achieving the desired result.
Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court, judgment of April 4, 2024 – 2 U 72/23 –
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