Patent Litigation Proceedings in Germany is an English translation of Honorable Judge Kühnen's book Handbuch der Patentverletzung, the 7th edition of which was published in August 2014, containing a detailed discussion on German case law in patent litigation matters. The German version of the book is one of the most authoritative sources for German practitioners on the subject. The book has been translated by Frank D. Peterreins
German patent litigation courts are constantly enjoying an increase in popularity on international level. Swift decisions with foreseeable results at reasonable costs are essential reasons for their success. The famous disputes between the giants of the mobile phone and smartphone industry are only one of the prominent cases that received a lot of attention.
In Düsseldorf, which is still the most important German jurisdiction for infringement actions, about 60% are non-German parties involved either as plaintiffs or as defendants. Already in preparation of patent litigation proceedings, non-German clients want to be informed by their counsels about the practice in Germany.
This does not only concern general information regarding costs and probable duration of the proceedings; the requested advice needs to be the more detailed the more important the envisaged lawsuit is for the concerned company and its market position. In many cases, questions with respect to the German substantive and procedural laws need to be discussed already in the pre-trial stage of consultation.
In the course of the proceedings, there will commonly be a further need for information. Occasionally, it is in the interest of the non-German plaintiff or defendant to get an idea of the German patent litigation procedure in order to independently evaluate the chances and risks and to carefully consider the possibilities of an infringement action or a legal defense.
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