Hands-on commentary on UPC decisions, key developments in IP law, and news from SONN.
Aug 5, 2026
In this decision, the Local Chamber Munich addresses the legal significance of the prosecution file for subsequent claim construction. Statements made by the patent applicant during examination proceedings do not…
Read more →In this detailed decision, the Local Chamber Mannheim deals with the functional interpretation of apparatus features and their relevance to patent infringement. The interpretation of patent claims is carried out…
Read more →In this decision, the Board of Appeal addresses the principles of uniform claim construction, drawing on the landmark decision G 1/24 of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office. The description and…
Read more →Jul 10, 2026
The term “the same invention” in Article 87 EPC is to be interpreted such that a claimed invention is to be regarded as the same invention as the invention in an earlier application if a person skilled in the art can…
Read more →In dieser Entscheidung konkretisiert das Berufungsgericht die Grundsätze zur Auslegung von Patentansprüchen bei strukturellen Merkmalen. Bei der Auslegung eines Anspruchsmerkmals, das sich auf ein strukturelles Element…
Read more →A patent infringement is not excluded by the fact that a device is normally operated in a non-infringing manner and that customers therefore regularly do not make use of the patented teaching, as long as the use of the…
Read more →Jun 1, 2026
Proper claim construction is essential for a correct assessment of patent claims. A claim construction that disregards a technically meaningful claim feature is not a good-faith interpretation. Rather, the skilled…
Read more →A process claim drafted as a further independent claim and the corresponding description can only be relevant for determining the scope of protection of an independent product claim to the extent that there are…
Read more →Feb 19, 2026
The term “offering” within the meaning of Art. 25(a) UPCA is to be interpreted autonomously. Offering is to be understood in an economic sense, not based on legal understanding of a binding contractual offer. Therefore,…
Read more →Dec 10, 2025
Even when applying the recent EBA decision G 1/24, a patent claim should not be interpreted more narrowly on the basis of features from embodiments than the person skilled in the art would understand it in view of its…
Read more →The patent in suit relates to arrangements in wireless networks. In particular, it relates to a method and a device for high-speed processing of protocol headers in an intermediate and/or destination node of a…
Read more →Product-by-process claims are characterized by the fact that the technical content of the invention does not regularly consist in the process as such, but in the technical properties that are conferred on the product by…
Read more →An impermissible extension ("added matter") exists if the granted claim comprises subject matter that goes beyond the content of the original application. In order to determine whether an impermissible extension exists,…
Read more →As a general principle for the interpretation of patent claims, so-called "means-plus-function" features are to be understood as any embodiment capable of performing the function in question (UPC 14. 2. 2025, CoA…
Read more →Sep 4, 2025
The interpretation of a patent claim is a legal question. Therefore, the court cannot delegate the judicial task of claim interpretation to an expert, but must interpret the claim independently. The skilled person is a…
Read more →Feb 24, 2025
The independent product claim protects a pharmaceutical formulation of the anti-IgE antibody rhuMAb E25, characterized by the formulation comprising approximately 150 g/L of the anti-IgE antibody in 0.02 M histidine,…
Read more →Feb 19, 2025
The patent in suit concerns an invention in the field of communication systems and relates, in particular, to high-frequency transmitters used in such systems. The purpose of the patent in suit is to provide a…
Read more →Jan 14, 2025
The patent in suit protects an avalanche transceiver in which, among other things, a control unit is provided to drive a loudspeaker to output a voice message depending on an event, with the loudspeaker also being…
Read more →Oct 11, 2024
The appellant appeals against a decision dismissing an application for provisional measures. The patent in suit protects an electronic label system for displaying information, in particular price information. The Court…
Read more →The appellant appeals against a dismissal order of the Court of First Instance on an application for a preliminary injunction. The patent in dispute protects an electronic label system for displaying information, in…
Read more →The Court of Appeal states that the interpretation has to be done according to Art 69 EPC and the corresponding protocol: The patent claim is not only the starting point, but the decisive basis under Art 69 EPC in…
Read more →May 17, 2024
The principle of primacy of the claims seems to exclude the use of the description and drawings for limiting the claims in proceedings before the EPO (in contradiction to patent infringement proceedings before the UPC…
Read more →Apr 2, 2023
When examining novelty, the normal rule of claim interpretation of reading a feature specified in a claim in its broadest technically meaningful sense corresponds to determining the broadest scope encompassed by the…
Read more →Mar 9, 2021
According to established case law of the Board of Appeal, Art 69 (1) EPC and the Protocol on its Interpretation refer to the “scope of protection” granted by the European patent or the European patent application. This…
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