Riendeau ./. Zehnder: Heat exchanged?

Case No. 4A_277/2018 ¦ Decision of 01 October 2018 (Supreme Court) on appeal against O2015_009 ¦ Decision of 21 March 2018 ¦ ‘Wärmeaustauschelement: Feststellung der gemeinsamen Berechtigung an der Anmeldung’

Note that Hepp Wenger Ryffel is involved in this matter on behalf of the plaintiff / appellant.

Please see this Blog here for a discussion of the underlying decision of the FPC. In brief, it is all about an assignment action of Marcel Riendeau against Zehnder Group International AG, concerning two European patent applications, i.e.:

EP 2 829 834 A1 (see the European Patent Register for any details), hereinafter referred to as EP2; and
EP 2 829 836 A1 (see the European Patent Register for any details), hereinafter referred to as EP3.

Both EP2 and EP3 had been filed in Zehnder’s name only; the plaintiff had been designated as inventor. The plaintiff had partially suceeded in first instance when the FPC held that the parties are jointly entitled to both patent applications.

On appeal, the plaintiff objected that the facts had been wrongly established in the first instance decision in various aspects, that the burden of proof had been incorrectly allocated and that the FPC had not dealt with the plaintiff’s entitlement to a transfer of the patent applications based on a contractual undertaking.

To cut a long(er) story short: The Supreme Court did not agree and dismissed the appeal. The FPC’s decision is thus final now, and it remains to be seen how the parties get along with their joint entitlement to both EP2 and EP3.

Reported by Martin WILMING

—

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Case No. O2015_009 ¦ Decision of 21 March 2018 ¦ ‘Wärmeaustauschelement: Feststellung der gemeinsamen Berechtigung an der Anmeldung’

Marcel Riendeau
./.
Zehnder Group International AG

Panel of Judges: