Case No. O2013_007 ¦ Partial decision of 14 August 2013 ¦ “Teilurteil Unterlassung, Auskunft und Rechnungslegung”
Further to the partial decision of 13 February 2013 in O2012_036 (WorldConnect AG ./. Pearl Schweiz GmbH) this is yet another case on the basis of EP 1 393 417 B1. Apparently, this patent is heavily litigated.
Here, defendant had sold allegedly infringing power plug adapters via the internet portal gudi.ch on 24 December 2012. Some traces can still be found on the internet:
The plaintiff requested injunctive relief in first place, and further information and accounting in an action by stages for the recovery of profits of the defendant originating from illegitimate sales of infringing products.
No technical matters are at stake in the decision. The defendant neither replied to any pre-litigation correspondence nor did he pick up the registered letter of the FPC with the order to provide his reply to the writ. Even a grace period under Art. 223(1) CPC had lapsed to no avail (even though the defendant apparently had called the FPC and was informed about the further course of the proceedings). The ostrich approach to bury the head in the sand failed: Since neither validity of the patent nor the infringement was disputed, the FPC was in a position to immediately accept the claim for injunctive relief. Further, the defendant was obliged to provide the requested information and accounting within 60 days after the decision will have become final.
The patent in suit is part of a larger patent family. From a routine check of the European patent register, it is apparent that the European patent has already lapsed in several countries. Noteworthy, the European patent is subject to a nullity suit in Germany; cf. the patent register at the DPMA (Germany) and the decision 1Ni29/12(EP) of the Federal Patent Court in Germany, issued 27 February 2013. Claims 1, 2, 3 and 6 (inasmuch as it refers back to one of claims 1-3) were held invalid in view of the prior art documents DE 24 14 203 C3, EP 0 156 076 B1 and US 5,791,921. For the time being, I could not clarify whether this decision has been appealed or not.
Reported by Martin WILMING
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Case No. O2013_007 ¦ Partial decision of 14 August 2013 ¦ “Teilurteil Unterlassung, Auskunft und Rechnungslegung”
WorldConnect AG ./. John Rusillon, Easy-Tech, Rusillon
Subject(s):
- Patent Infringement
- Damages
- Recovery of profits
Composition of the Board of the FPC:
- Dr. iur. Dieter BRÄNDLE (President)
- Dr. Tobias BREMI (Judge)
- Dr. Mark SCHWEIZER (Judge)
- Lic. iur. Jakob ZELLWEGER (First Court Secretary)
Representative(s) of Plaintiff:
- Dr. iur. Conrad WEINMANN (Weinmann Zimmerli)
Representative(s) of Defendant:
- (none)
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Full text of the decision right here:
In the meantime, the decision has become final.