Equivalence: the swinging pendulum

03-10-2016

Jens Künzel

From the perspective of a practitioner in patent infringement law, the German courts’ take on equivalence may be illustrated as a wave movement, or a pendulum that constantly, if unevenly, swings back and forth. Sometimes it appears to be more in favour of broadening the criteria for patent infringement based on equivalence, sometimes it appears to be more restrictive.


Jens Künzel, Krieger Mes & Graf v. der Groeben, Germany’s Federal Court of Justice, patent, patent infringement, Occluder,

WIPR