Key takeaways
A revocation claimant must present all grounds of invalidity with the Statement of Claim
In revocation actions, the claimant is required to specify the grounds of invalidity that allegedly affect the contested patent, as well as prior art documents relied upon to support any allegation of lack of novelty or inventive step in its statement of claim as this defines the subject matter of the dispute. New grounds of invalidity of the contested patet or new documents considered novelty destroying or affecting inventive step cannot be submitted in subsequent written act as this contradicts the principle of front-loaded proceedings.
Determination of a realistic starting point when assessing inventive step
In order to assess whether or not a claimed invention lacks inventive step, it is first necessary to determine one or more realistic starting points in the state of the art, which would be of interest to a person skilled in the art who, at the priority date of the patent in suit, was seeking to develop a product or process similar to that disclosed in the prior art. In particular, realistic starting points are the documents which disclose the main relevant features as those disclosed in the challenged patent or which address the same or a similar underlying problem.
Division
CD Paris
UPC number
UPC_CFI_311/2023
Type of proceedings
revocation action
Parties
Claimant: NJOY Netherlands B.V.
Defendant: VMR Products LLC
Patent(s)
EP 3 626 092
Body of legislation / Rules
Rule 44 RoP, Preable RoP, para. 7