UPC_CFI_376/2023

Decision on the merits by the Brussels Local Division (full panel) in an infringement action concerning a patent on a medical device (sleep apnea treatment). The court dismissed both the literal infringement claim and the infringement-by-equivalence claim against OrthoApnea S.L. and Vivisol B BV. On literal infringement, the court interpreted the patent claims in light of the claim as a whole and found the accused products did not meet all claim features. On equivalence, the court found no functional equivalence regardless of which equivalence test was applied. The court also lifted the earlier evidence-preservation order (seizure) and ordered the claimant (unnamed, anonymized) to pay the defendants' costs. A key procedural holding addressed the temporal conditions for bringing main proceedings following evidence preservation.