German parliament passes bill for UPC ratification
27-11-2020
German court lifts Lenovo injunction in Nokia dispute
03-11-2020
nitpicker / Shutterstock.com
Proposals to bring a proportionality test into the German Patent Act have caused controversy, but are fears warranted? Julia Schönbohm of Linklaters explores.
Following a highly controversial debate, the German government proposed a reform of the German Patent Act. The draft now explicitly provides that the claim for an injunction is subject to a proportionality test. According to the reasons provided, this should merely clarify the already applicable legal regime to which proportionality is inherent.
A significant change is that third party interests were added and are therefore also a relevant criterion. This follows the approach already implemented by the courts in the UK. So far, German infringement courts do not take third party interests into account and justify this with the rationale that the requirements for a compulsory license should not be undermined.
According to the current timeline, it is expected that the law will pass on May 7, 2021. Following this, German patent law will be more closely aligned to the transformed technical and economic environment that triggers patent enforcement.
The rest of this article is locked for subscribers only. Please login to continue reading.
If you don't have a login, you will need to purchase a subscription to gain access to this article, including all our online content. Please use this link and follow the steps.
For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription to us that we can add you to for FREE, please email Atif Choudhury at achoudhury@worldipreview.com
patent, injunction, German, proportionality, infringement, validity, courts, bifurcated
