{"id":3895,"date":"2016-10-28T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T08:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/strict-requirements-for-the-expiry-period-for-patent-infringement-bgh-x-zr-114-13-heat-exchanger\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T14:42:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T13:42:26","slug":"strict-requirements-for-the-expiry-period-for-patent-infringement-bgh-x-zr-114-13-heat-exchanger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/en\/strict-requirements-for-the-expiry-period-for-patent-infringement-bgh-x-zr-114-13-heat-exchanger\/","title":{"rendered":"Strict requirements for the expiry period for patent infringement (BGH X ZR 114\/13 – Heat exchanger)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a patent infringement action, the patent proprietor regularly applies for an order prohibiting the infringer from committing unlawful acts. In the past, German courts have granted such requests without further ado and with immediate effect if the infringement has been confirmed. In its recent “W\u00e4rmetauscher” ruling, the BGH addressed the question of whether the infringer can be granted a period of grace. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

A patent exploitation company had taken over the inventor’s 1996 patent for a neck heater for convertibles and filed an infringement suit based on this patent against a supplier and the automobile manufacturer supplied.<\/p>\n\n

Both the Regional Court and the Higher Regional Court dismissed the Lawsuit. The patented teaching was neither used literally nor equivalently. <\/p>\n\n

The patent holder appealed against this to the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). This court came to the conclusion that there was an equivalent patent infringement. And it also granted the injunctive relief. The BGH rejected the infringers’ application to grant them a period of grace. <\/p>\n\n

At the outset, the court concedes that in general, for example in competition disputes, a limitation period may be considered from the point of view of good faith if the infringer would suffer disproportionate disadvantages if the prohibition took immediate effect and the temporary continuation of the unlawful conduct does not cause unreasonable disadvantages for the infringed party. However, the Federal Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the extent to which a limitation period can be considered in the case of patent infringements. <\/p>\n\n

In patent law, the court considers it an inevitable and necessary consequence of a patent infringement that the infringer must cease distribution of the disputed product until it has either obtained a License from the patent holder or developed a non-infringing alternative. The latter can, under certain circumstances, entail considerable time and costs. The associated hardships for the patent infringer must be accepted. <\/p>\n\n

A limitation period can only be considered under strict conditions. A restriction of the effect of the Patents by granting a limitation period can only be justified if the economic consequences of immediate compliance with the prohibition order affect and disadvantage the infringer in the individual case due to special circumstances beyond the impairments associated with its pronouncement to such an extent that the unconditional prohibition appears to be unreasonable. <\/p>\n\n

Neither the international treaties (TRIPS) nor the EU regulations (Enforcement Directive) give cause for a different assessment.<\/p>\n\n

The TRIPS agreements are primarily aimed at the legislator. However, the German legislator has not made use of the possibility to provide for exceptions to the exclusive rights of the patent proprietor. <\/p>\n\n

The Enforcement Directive requires EU Member States to provide for fair and equitable measures, procedures and remedies for the enforcement of rights. They should not entail unreasonable time limits or unjustified delays and they should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Furthermore, they should be applied in such a way that legitimate trade is not restricted and there is a guarantee against abuse. <\/p>\n\n

It is true that the Enforcement Directive does not, in principle, preclude a limitation period from the point of view of proportionality. However, the aspects put forward by the infringers do not justify a limitation period. <\/p>\n\n

The subject matter of the infringement only concerns a single element of a component (vehicle seat) inserted into a complex delivery item (vehicle). However, the heating system is not a functionally essential component, which is shown by the fact that it is offered as an optional feature. It is also not apparent that there were no or no appropriate licensing options. And finally, it has also not been demonstrated to what extent the delivery ban would have a serious and disproportionate economic impact on the entire business operations or even just in relation to a specific segment of its product range. <\/p>\n\n

Note: With this ruling, the BGH reaffirms its previous practice of not mitigating the adverse consequences of a patent infringement in favor of the infringer. This means that in the future, it will still practically inevitably be possible to stop a patent infringement with an immediate court injunction. <\/p>\n\n

Links: juris.bundesgerichtshof.de\/cgi-bin\/rechtsprechung\/document.py<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a patent infringement action, the patent proprietor regularly applies for an order prohibiting the infringer from committing unlawful acts. In the past, German courts have granted such requests without further ado and with immediate effect if the infringement has been confirmed. In its recent “W\u00e4rmetauscher” ruling, the BGH addressed the question of whether the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nicht-kategorisiert"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klunker-ip.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}