With its ruling of October 18, 2023, the UPC Düsseldorf local division has dealt with the consequences of a repeated breach of injunction (UPC_CFI_177/2023). The case concerned an injunction previously issued on the occasion of a trade fair against the supplier of an e-bike. Contrary to the court order, the e-bike was offered for sale again on a Sunday on which shops were open.
The UPC local division ordered the party to pay a penalty of €26,500 for breaching the injunction previously issued against the party. Among other things, the judges referred to the headnote, stating that “the behavior of the debtor in the past (...) is a decisive, if not necessarily the sole, indication of the amount of the penalty to be imposed. The more frequently and intensively the debtor has breached the injunction imposed on him, the more clearly he has expressed his unwillingness to comply with the injunction.” This had to be taken into account when calculating the penalty.
“The decision to impose a penalty of €26,500 aims to increase the pressure on the debtor to behave in accordance with the court order,” says Gottfried Schüll, patent attorney and partner at Cohausz & Florack.
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