2024-10-17 - CD Munich - NanoString v. President And Fellows Of Harvard College - UPC_CFI_252/2023
- Aktenzeichen:
- UPC_CFI_252/2023
- Datum:
- Spruchkörper:
- Court of First Instance - Munich (DE) Central Division - Section
- Art:
- Proceeding Decision
- Parteien:
- NanoString Technologies Europe Limited v. President and Fellows of Harvard College
Kernaussage: The Munich Central Division revoked EP 2 794 928 B1 in its entirety for France, Germany and the Netherlands.
2024-10-17 - CD Munich - NanoString
v.
President And Fellows Of Harvard College - UPC_CFI_252/2023
notable
The Munich Central Division revoked EP 2 794 928 B1 in its entirety for France, Germany and the Netherlands. The Court held that claim 1 as granted lacked novelty over the Göransson prior art, which directly and unambiguously disclosed all features under a broad construction of 'sample', 'analyte' and 'plurality'. AR1 — which limited the method to FISH/immunohistochemistry in a biological sample — was found obvious over Göransson because a skilled person had ample motivation to transfer Göransson's decoding scheme into an in situ context. Before reaching the merits, the Court confirmed its international jurisdiction of its own motion under Art. 24(4) Brussels I recast and declined to stay proceedings under Art. 30 Brussels I recast despite parallel BPatG proceedings. A late-filed auxiliary request was refused under Rule 50.2 in conjunction with Rule 30.2 RoP on front-loading grounds.
Nichtigkeitsgründe
Art. 138 EPCNovelty
Patent invalid (this ground)Art. 54 EPC · Art. 138(1)(a) EPC
“Claim 1 as granted held to lack novelty over Göransson (D10); all features directly and unambiguously disclosed [9.3, 9.8, 9.15].”
Inventive Step
Patent invalid (this ground)Art. 56 EPC · Art. 138(1)(a) EPC
“AR1 (method used in FISH/immunohistochemistry on biological sample) found obvious over Göransson — skilled person had motivation to transfer Göransson's generic decoding scheme into an in situ context, supported by D30 (Söderberg) and D50 (Grundberg thesis) [11.26, 11.42].”