Webinar on Patent litigation in Germany

Webinar on Patent litigation in Germany: specifics for national proceedings and a future prospect in light of the UPC is open for registration!

In each webinar a specialist in the area of national and international litigation will highlight what procedural and substantial issues are specific for that country’s court proceedings and these will be put into relation with the proceedings that will be possible before the UPC. In that way a better choice can be made to either use the national court procedures or the UPC.

Germany is “the” hot spot for patent litigation in Europe where more than 60% of all European patent litigations are filed each year. The German system for patent litigation is decentralized and offers twelve specialized venues, the most important ones being Duesseldorf, Munich and Mannheim. Key features of the German patent litigation system are a bifurcation of infringement and validity proceedings, the so called “injunction gap” caused thereby, and quasi-automatic permanent and preliminary injunctions. An additional litigation tool is the German utility model which can be branched off from pending patent applications or patents which still are under opposition. The German system is known for being efficient, rather patentee friendly and offering meaningful relief within about a year of litigation at reasonable costs. German judges play a predominant role in the UPC, with Dr Klaus Grabinski presiding over the 1st senate of the Court of Appeal as the president of the Court of Appeal. There will be four Local Divisions in Duesseldorf, Munich, Mannheim and Hamburg with two German national judges each. In addition, there will be the Munich Central Division. This webinar will discuss the key aspects of German patent litigation and explore the impact of the introduction of the UPC.