2025-03-21 - LD Hamburg - Jingao Solar v. Astronergy et al. - UPC_CFI_429/2024
- Aktenzeichen:
- UPC_CFI_429/2024
- Datum:
- Spruchkörper:
- Court of First Instance - Hamburg (DE) Local Division
- Art:
- Order
- Parteien:
- JingAo Solar Co., Ltd. v. Chint New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Astronergy Europe GmbH, Astronergy GmbH, Astronergy Solarmodule GmbH, Astronergy Solar Netherlands B.V., Chint Solar Netherlands B.V.
Kernaussage: The Hamburg Local Division dismissed an application under R.
2025-03-21 - LD Hamburg - Jingao Solar
v.
Astronergy et al. - UPC_CFI_429/2024
notable
The Hamburg Local Division dismissed an application under R. 190 RoP for an order that the patentee produce its transfer, purchase and licence agreements, together with side letters, negotiation minutes and correspondence, with two competing solar groups. The defendants sought the documents to support a competition-law defence: that the patented TOPCon technology is a de facto industry standard, that the refusal to license them while licensing others is an abuse of market power under Art. 102 TFEU, and that the patentee is therefore not entitled to an injunction, relying on the German Federal Court of Justice's Spundfass decision. The Court held the requirements of Art. 59(1) UPCA with R. 190 and R. 191 RoP unmet: it had not been sufficiently shown that the existence of a de facto standard would have to be taken into account by a Local Division of the UPC at all, since the Spundfass reasoning is relevant for Germany and it could not be inferred from the defendants' submissions that the same must apply under European law. The defendants had also not argued, despite being put on notice, that the patent in suit is relevant to the alleged standard, so there was no reason to order production of documents that were not further specified.