IP-NEWS

Bundestag paves way for the Unified European Patent Court

On Thursday, November 26, 2020, the Bundestag approved the Federal Government's draft law on the Convention of February 19, 2013 on a Unified Patent Court. The Convention has now been ratified by 16 signatory states including France and the United Kingdom. Only ratification by the Federal Republic of Germany was still re...mehr

BGH: Interest in legal protection regarding dependent claims and further independent claims in a patent nullity action

Decision X ZR 96/18 "Data Packet Conversion” In the recently published decision in the patent nullity action "Data Package Conversion", announced on August 11, 2020, the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) discussed the question, whether a nullity action is admissible, if it is directed to an independen...mehr

New Chamber for Copyright Law at the Regional Court Munich I

On 1 October 2020, the 42nd Civil Chamber at the Regional Court Munich I commenced its work under the chairwomanship of Dr. Elke Schwager. With immediate effect, the newly established chamber will handle all disputes concerning Copyright Law for the first and second instance, Design Law including Community Design Law, Publishing Law and disputes concerning...mehr

German Bundesrat confirms Law to Strengthen Fair Competition

On 9 October 2020, the German Bundesrat approved the law to strengthen fair competition, which the Bundestag had already passed on 10 September 2020. The declared aim of the law is to prevent the abuse of cease and desist letters and preliminary injunctions and to protect in particular self-employed persons and small and medium-sized enterprises from the consequences of ma...mehr

BGH: Defense of a patent in the appeal instance in patent nullity proceedings with amended claims

Decision of 23 April 2020, X ZR 38/18 - Niederflurschienenfahrzeug In the lower instance at the Federal Patent Court, the patentee limited claim 1 by a an additional feature. However, the Federal Patent Court considered the added feature to be not sufficiently clear disclosed as belonging to the inventio...mehr

Federal Supreme Court (BGH): Square packaging for Ritter Sport chocolate remains protected as a trademark

Decisions of 23 July 2020 - I ZB 42/19 and I ZB 43/19 The square shape of Ritter Sport chocolate remains protected under trademark law, since the shape is not determined by the nature of the goods themselves and therefore no grounds for cancellation apply....mehr

German Federal Constitutional Court declares UPC Agreement void

On 20 March 2020 the German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has declared the German law ratifying the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court (UPC Agreement) to be void. In 2017 a constitutional complaint against the German act of parliament approving the UPC Agreement has been filed which was based on the argument that...mehr

UK is leaving the EU

Important news on IP rights after Brexit The UK is leaving the EU on January 31, 2020. As a result, there will be no changes on patents, but for holders of EU and IR (designating the EU) trademark and design. However, these changes will not t...mehr

Federal Supreme Court confirmed trademark infringement by third-party linked Google advertisements

Decision of the Federal Supreme Court of July 25, 2019 – I ZR 29/18 The company ORTLIEB attacks advertisements appearing when entering the search terms „Ortlieb bicycle bag“, „Ortlieb luggage bag“ or „Ortlieb outlet“ in Google linking to an Amazon offer overview and forwarding to offers of competi...mehr

German design law: Federal Court of Justice overturns the “overlap theory”

When filing an individual German design application, up to 10 photographs or other graphic representations can be submitted that show the design to be protected. Up to now, the overlapping characteristics found in all of the depictions on file were used to judge a design’s eligibility for protection (see BGH decision from 2001-02-15, Az. I ZR 333/98 – Sitz-Lie...mehr