2026-10-23 - LD Mannheim - Sk Nexilis v. Volta Energy - UPC_CFI_706/2025
- Aktenzeichen:
- UPC_CFI_706/2025
- Datum:
- Spruchkörper:
- Court of First Instance - Mannheim (DE) Local Division
- Art:
- Decision
- Parteien:
- SK nexilis Co., Ltd. v. Volta Energy Solutions S.à r.l., Volta Energy Solutions Europe Kft., Volta Energy Solutions Hungary Kft.
Kernaussage: The Mannheim Local Division dismissed an infringement action because the patent defined its own roughness parameter in the claim and the accused products met it only under the patentee's reading.
2026-10-23 - LD Mannheim - Sk Nexilis
v.
Volta Energy - UPC_CFI_706/2025
notable
The Mannheim Local Division dismissed an infringement action because the patent defined its own roughness parameter in the claim and the accused products met it only under the patentee's reading. The Court held that where a claim sets out a binding, step-by-step definition of a parameter that deviates from a technical standard it refers to, the patent is its own lexicon: the reference to the standard governs only how the measurement basis is obtained, not how the claimed value is computed, and the value cannot be normalised to the standard's reference length. The defendants' counterclaim for revocation, made conditional on a finding of infringement during the oral hearing, was admissible by analogy to R. 263.3 RoP and remained undecided. On costs, the panel held that a counterclaim conditional on infringement is not unnecessary within Art. 69(3) UPCA, departing from the Munich Local Division, and that the claimant whose infringement action fails is the unsuccessful party for the conditional counterclaim as well. A pending R. 190 RoP production request was dismissed as moot once infringement and validity fell away.