Legal issues
Cross-cutting view of legal principles, recurring arguments, and the prior art the court relies on.
Most-litigated legal principles
Recurring legal principles across 2 cases with reasoning extracted. Success rate counts patentee-favorable outcomes only.
Most-rejected arguments
Arguments that the UPC has not accepted, ranked by repeat occurrences across cases.
| Argument | Party | Cases |
|---|---|---|
| prior use right defense under art. 28 upca | Respondent | 2 |
| defendant's submission of 31 may 2024 (inadmissible late submission) | Respondent | 2 |
| lack of inventive step based on 'levi' as closest prior art combined with disclosure of hexagonal cells in heart valves | Claimant | 1 |
| all invalidity grounds raised against amended auxiliary request ii are well-founded | Claimant | 1 |
| preliminary cost reimbursement order should be granted in preliminary injunction proceedings | Claimant | 1 |
| validity attacks (best three arguments) defeat the patent at pi stage | Respondent | 1 |
| late-filed prior art documents mb2 and mb4 should be admitted and undermine inventive step | Claimant | 1 |
| request to amend patent is inadmissible with respect to non-challenged claims | Claimant | 1 |
| new grounds for revocation introduced in reply to defence constitute permissible arguments | Claimant | 1 |
| attacked embodiment (speed care hemostatic gauze) contains a binder as required by patent claims | Claimant | 1 |
| burden of proof should be reversed because applicant has provided reasonable indications of infringement | Claimant | 1 |
| new line of arguments on added matter based on different passages of a lengthy document should be admitted | Claimant | 1 |
| gillette defence (accused product is prior art or obvious modification thereof, therefore non-infringing) | Respondent | 1 |
| claim should be limited to the specific shape shown in a particular drawing | Respondent | 1 |
| right to publication of the decision should be granted | Claimant | 1 |
| lack of inventive step over diaz combined with robertson | Claimant | 1 |
| lack of inventive step starting from glejboel combined with diaz and/or robertson | Claimant | 1 |
| huawei's claims are barred by ieee bylaws / letter of assurance commitments (prohibition on suit) | Respondent | 1 |
| exhaustion defence applies to all accused product variants | Respondent | 1 |
| counterclaim for revocation of ep 2 137 782 should succeed | Respondent | 1 |
| leave to appeal the procedural order disregarding late-filed arguments should be granted | Respondent | 1 |
| relying on combinations of claim 1 with sub-claims makes invalidity of claim 1 more likely | Respondent | 1 |
| gucci's leather goods (pikarar padlock bag and loafers) infringe claim 1 and claim 10 of agfa's patent | Claimant | 1 |
| counterclaim for revocation of the patent should succeed | Respondent | 1 |
| patent ep 2 548 648 is valid and infringement claims should be upheld | Claimant | 1 |
Most-cited prior art
References relied on across substantive merits cases, with the role they typically play.
| Reference | Predominant role | Cases |
|---|---|---|
| D3 | Novelty-destroying | 2 |
| Levi (unspecified publication) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| Fontaine (article) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| WO 2013/012801 | Background | 1 |
| EP 3 205 309 | Background | 1 |
| EP 2 731 552 | Background | 1 |
| MB2 (European patent application published 9 September 2016) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| MB4 (unspecified prior art document) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| Diaz (unspecified publication, liquid drug delivery system) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| Robertson (unspecified publication, container for solid medicaments) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| Glejboel (unspecified publication) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| D3 (unspecified publication, shredder/mill technology) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| D9 (unspecified publication, fibrous wood material grinding with oblique ribs/strips) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| US 994 | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| D8 | Novelty-destroying | 1 |
| ITRE 20100070 A1 (D9) | Novelty-destroying | 1 |
| Levi | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| Fontaine article | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| WO 2013/012801 (WO '801 / grandparent application) | Background | 1 |
| Göransson | Novelty-destroying | 1 |
| D46 | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| Levi (Exhibit HLNK 39) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| Alon (Exhibit HLNK 49) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| Fontaine (Exhibit HLNK 25) | Obviousness combination | 1 |
| EP 3 583 920 B1 (family member) | Background | 1 |