The article examines the different approaches to equivalent patent infringement in Europe and shows how case law has developed depending on the country. The focus is on the Pemetrexed case (Actavis v. Eli Lilly), which resulted in landmark decisions in Germany, the UK and Switzerland.
The German Federal Court of Justice relaxed the previously strict waiver jurisprudence and clarified that an equivalent infringement can exist if the equivalent effect is recognizable to a person skilled in the art.
In the UK, the case led to a paradigm shift: the Supreme Court recognized the possibility of equivalent infringement for the first time. Switzerland pursues a hybrid of both approaches and decided in the “Deferasirox” case that tolerance ranges must be treated in the same way as literal infringements.
Overall, it is clear that the criteria for equivalent patent infringements vary from country to country and that, despite certain parallels, there is no uniform European approach.
This article was published on kadidatentreff on 26.02.2025.
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