Irreconcilable judgments are possible in cases of infringement by companies of same national part of European Patent with same product

PATENT LAW – PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW - LITIGATION

Possibility of irreconcilable judgments (article 6 EEX Convention) if companies are each separately accused of infringement of same national part of European patent with same product

"30. In the light of the foregoing, the answer to the first question is that Article 6(1) of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as meaning that a situation where two or more companies from different Member States, in proceedings pending before a court of one of those Member States, are each separately accused of committing an infringement of the same national part of a European patent which is in force in yet another Member State by virtue of their performance of reserved actions with regard to the same product, is capable of leading to ‘irreconcilable judgments’ resulting from separate proceedings as referred to in that provision. It is for the referring court to assess whether such a risk exists, taking into account all the relevant information in the file."

Exclusive jurisdiction regarding validity does not preclude special jurisdiction regarding interim measures

"51 In the light of all the foregoing considerations, the answer to the second question is that Article 22(4) of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as not precluding, in circumstances such as those at issue in the main proceedings, the application of Article 31 of that regulation."

IPPT20120712, CJEU, Solvay v Honeywell

C-616/10 - ECLI:EU:C:2012:445