News

First permanent injunction in final first instance decision at the UPC

4 July 2024

On 3 June 2024, the Unified Patent Court, via one of its Local Divisions in Germany, issued a permanent injunction. This case was among the first infringement cases filed after the UPC started operating on 1 June 2023. The Court has achieved its aim of delivering a decision on the merits in about a year from the initiation of the proceedings.

The issued injunction applies to seven countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxemburg and the Netherlands. The patent involved in this case was owned by Franz Kaldewei and was for a “Bathtub Sanitation Device”. This is a conventional European Patent that falls under the jurisdiction of the UPC during the transitional period. In its final decision, the Court ruled that the patent was invalid in its granted form due to obviousness, but accepted that claims in an auxiliary request were valid and accepted that they had been infringed by Bette. The permanent injunction is based on this auxiliary request.

This decision is of real interest to patent owners, as it demonstrates that it is possible to obtain  a decision and a permanent injunction in the member states of the UPC in a timely manner.

The full decision can be found here: 55B6A3D3EBD78D7A01A3718ACFCE149B_de.pdf (unified-patent-court.org)

Marie-Claude Pellegrini

Electronics, Computing & Physics group

This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.

© Withers & Rogers LLP July 2024