The Assessment of Patent Validity by the Unified Patent Court

Abstract

A little more than six months after the Unified Patent Court commenced its work, the judgment of the Court of Appeal in 10x Genomics v. NanoString is the first final decision of the new court to deal in detail with the interpretation of an asserted patent claim and, based on this, with the assessment of the patentability of the subject-matter of a European patent. On the basis of this patent, a preliminary injunction was requested and issued by the Munich Local Division of the Court of First Instance. This fact alone shows that the significance of the decision can hardly be overestimated. A closer analysis of the decision confirms that it provides a wealth of insights into the way in which the UPC will deal with the questions of novelty and inventive step, which are at the centre of the examination of the validity of a patent in proceedings for interim measures, but also in proceedings on the merits. This article attempts to summarise the most important findings on substantive patent law and its application that can be derived from the decision of the UPC Court of Appeal.