An essential characteristic of the patent litigation system in Hungary is that patent infringement proceedings and revocation proceedings are strictly separate.
According to the rules of civil procedure, the court can suspend any lawsuit if its adjudication is dependent on the outcome of another— ongoing—administrative or civil lawsuit, forming a preliminary question. The courts have confirmed that in an infringement proceeding, the court will start by looking at the actually registered status of the patent, and if a revocation proceeding is started, the infringement court has no competence to prejudice its outcome.
From this, it follows that if the defendant certifies in a patent infringement proceeding that the validity of the patent in suit has been challenged by a revocation action, this becomes a preliminary question and the infringement procedure is consequently stayed by the courts. Importantly, according to the court practice, the adjudication of an interlocutory injunction cannot be prevented by reference to an ongoing revocation proceeding.
The Supreme Court
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Patent infringement, proceedings
