2026-02-24 - LD Mannheim - TRUMPF Laser UK v. Ipg Laser - UPC_CFI_735/2024
- Aktenzeichen:
- UPC_CFI_735/2024
- Datum:
- Spruchkörper:
- Court of First Instance - Mannheim (DE) Local Division
- Art:
- Decision
- Parteien:
- TRUMPF Laser UK Limited v. IPG Laser GmbH & Co. KG
Kernaussage: The Mannheim Local Division dismissed a revocation counterclaim and granted the full set of infringement remedies over a fibre-optic laser combiner.
2026-02-24 - LD Mannheim - TRUMPF Laser UK
v.
Ipg Laser - UPC_CFI_735/2024
notable
The Mannheim Local Division dismissed a revocation counterclaim and granted the full set of infringement remedies over a fibre-optic laser combiner. On validity it left the priority attack undecided and simply assumed in the defendant's favour that priority failed, taking the intervening document into account for inventive step and holding the claim valid on that harder footing. On novelty it held that a figure showing an output fibre may not be read together with a different figure showing an input bundle: combining or modifying figures is not permitted in the assessment of novelty, and the output fibre of the one embodiment was disclosed only for a bundle with several inner fibres. Procedurally it held that R. 30 RoP is lex specialis to R. 263 RoP, so adapting the infringement requests to the auxiliary requests filed in the application to amend the patent is not an amendment of case needing leave. It ordered the account in electronically processable form because the defendant did not oppose that form on the merits, refused a provisional costs award for want of any explanation why it was needed before the final decision, but awarded the price of the specimen bought for testing as provisional damages.
Nichtigkeitsgründe
Art. 138 EPCNovelty
Patent survived (this ground)Art. 54 EPC · Art. 138(1)(a) EPC
“The novelty attack over EP 2 071 376 A1 (D6) failed. The output fibre of the Fig. 8a/8b embodiment is disclosed only together with an inner region containing several input fibres, so feature 6.1.1.1 (a single inner fibre) and part of feature 6.2.1 are not disclosed; and the skilled person cannot derive directly and unambiguously that this output fibre would be used with the input-bundle arrangement of Fig. 1 or Fig. 7a. Combining or modifying figures is not permitted in the assessment of novelty [160]-[171].”
Inventive Step
Patent survived (this ground)Art. 56 EPC · Art. 138(1)(a) EPC
“The inventive-step attack failed on every route: D6 alone gives no reason to apply the Fig. 8a output fibre to an input bundle with only one inner fibre, because D6 is directed at combining several laser sources to maximise power rather than at selecting a beam profile; the combinations with D7 to D11, with D13 and with the common general knowledge fail for the same want of motivation [172]-[209].”
Added Matter
Patent survived (this ground)Art. 123(2) EPC · Art. 138(1)(c) EPC
“The added-matter ground failed. The combination in claim 6 of at least one annular secondary region overlying the radially outer fibres but not the inner fibre with a plurality of secondary regions, and the coupling of the lasers under feature 6.3.1, are directly and unambiguously derivable from the parent application as filed; literal support is not required and the features need not appear in one paragraph or one embodiment (Amgen v Sanofi) [124]-[139].”
Priority
Not decidedArt. 87 EPC · derivative
“The defendant argued that the priority document does not disclose the independent controllability of the laser outputs of feature 6.3.2 and so does not concern the same invention (Art. 87(1) EPC). The division left the question open and assumed in the defendant's favour that priority fails, taking D13 — published after the priority date and before the filing date — into account for inventive step, because the counterclaim fails even on that footing [122]-[123].”
Inoffiziell
Inoffizielle KI-Übersetzung
Dies ist eine automatische, von KI erstellte Übersetzung, die Fehler enthalten kann. Rechtsverbindlich ist allein das Originaldokument in der Verfahrenssprache (German).