The threat of German patent litigation is rising. Germany is second only to the United States in the number of patent infringement actions brought by non-practicing entities (NPEs), and with the ready availability of injunctive relief in Germany and the recent advent of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) creating “competition” among European courts for cases, the danger of German patent lawsuits cannot be ignored. Indeed, in many instances, these German actions are one front in a multi-jurisdictional “patent war,” with parallel proceedings in other European countries, the United States, China, and elsewhere. The German proceedings in such a patent war can have an outsized role because of the greater threat of an injunction in Germany, and the litigation procedures that generally afford fewer protections for defendants. If a defendant is not careful in developing a comprehensive defensive strategy in Germany, it could soon face an order excluding its products from the German market that could effectively dictate the outcome of the war before most battles have even been fought.
Originally published in Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal - January 2025.
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