blog
JUVE Patent blog
Patent law reform: Bundestag introduces principle of proportionality
The new patent law adopted last Friday in Germany puts a stop to the use of injunctive relief by Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs). “We also welcome the German parliament’s diligent effort in the context of the new law to explicitly proscribe the practice of Patent Assertion Entities (also known as patent trolls) who acquire patents purely for the purpose of extorting excessive settlements under the threat of an impending injunction.”, told Ludwig von Reiche, IP2Innovate's board member, JUVE Patent.
Share
Other press coverage
intellectualpropertymagazine.com
Tech and auto companies urge EU to crack down on patent trolls.
Tech and auto companies including Apple, BMW, Microsoft, and Samsung have urged the European Commission to take action to stop European courts from issuing automatic injunctions in favour of so-called ‘patent trolls’.
Managing IP
US firms prioritise Europe as UPC countdown begins
In the recent article of Managing IP, examining future enforcement of EU patent law by the Unified Patent Court (UPC), Katalin Lubóczki, coordinator of the UPC Working Group responsible for finalising the training plan for UPC judges emphasises that proportionality will be an important principle in UPC jurisprudence.
IP2Innovate welcomes the call by CDU/CSU to introduce a proportionality test in the German Patent Act to better protect innovators against patent trolls
In a recent the German Conservatives (CDU/CSU) Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker and Ingmar Jung express concerns over abusive litigation practices by patent trolls, which distort the market and undermine Germany’s attractiveness as a business location. They note that in light of the high complexity of modern products, companies can no longer completely rule out the possibility of patent infringements. In this context, an unlimited right to injunctive relief create unwarranted leverage for patent trolls who buy up patents only to assert them against companies and extract disproportionately high settlements. Solutions proposed by CDU/CSU are the introduction of a proportionality test in the German Patent Act as well as a synchronisation of infringement and nullity proceedings.