Germany: patent litigation revisited

In Germany, applications for interim injunctions to prevent alleged patent infringement have until now been rejected by the infringement court if the patent in suit has been revoked by the Federal Patents court at first instance. This is so even if a validity appeal is pending.

A recent decision of the the Appeals Court of Dusseldorf may however have changed this generally accepted practice and appears to have broken new ground for litigants in the German patent jurisdiction. For a detailed analysis of this development, read Wragge & Co's reflection on this important German judgment.