
The ECB can claim another (and final) victory in Germany now, the BGH having overturned the decision of the Bundespatentgericht. In its judgment of 8 July 2010, the BGH comes essentially to the same conclusion as the English and Dutch courts, i.e. that the patent as granted contains added matter over the application as originally filed (the grounds for the decision are not yet available; press release here). The judgment is interesting insofar as the BGH has lately mostly overruled decisions of the Bundespatentgericht invalidating patents. Yes, adds Merpel, but mostly if the invalidity was based on lack of inventiveness; this challenge succeeded on other grounds.
As another Kat has noted earlier, these types of disputes involving the same facts in several jurisdictions, with courts coming to opposite conclusions, really are an argument in favour of centralised patent litigation. And, if I may add, sorry, Germans, but taking three years for an appeal (the Bundespatentgericht judgment dates of 27 March 2007) is too long.
DSS' patent out of the money in Germany, too
Reviewed by Mark Schweizer
on
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
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