Germany: Arbitration & Dispute Resolution

The Mannheim Local Division of the Unified Patent Court addressed a procedural application by Google LLC and Google Germany GmbH seeking to change the language of infringement proceedings from German to English under Rule 323 of the Rules of Procedure. The decision examines how a claimant's demonstrated capacity to litigate in English in comparable proceedings may outweigh traditional factors such as party size and domicile when determining language-of-proceedings applications under Article 49(5) UPCA.

The European Patent Office has released significant updates to its Case Law of the Boards of Appeal, incorporating landmark decisions that reshape how prior art is assessed, claims are interpreted, and appeal procedures are conducted. These changes reflect pivotal rulings from the Technical and Enlarged Boards of Appeal that practitioners should understand for effective EPO proceedings.

The Local Division Düsseldorf of the Unified Patent Court has confirmed a settlement agreement between OTEC Präzisionsfinish GmbH and ANCA Europe GmbH concerning European Patent EP 2 983 864. This procedural confirmation follows Rule 365(1) Sentence 2 of the Rules of Procedure, marking the formal conclusion of the dispute between the parties.

The Düsseldorf Local Division of the Unified Patent Court has adopted the Dutch-derived four-step equivalence test in a patent infringement case involving stroller wheel locking mechanisms. This decision, which rejected claims of equivalent infringement based on a strict feature-by-feature functional analysis, may signal an emerging consensus on how equivalence should be assessed across the UPC.

The Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court has issued three significant procedural rulings addressing the admissibility of late invalidity attacks, the scope of withdrawal provisions, and the proper forum for cost decision applications. These decisions clarify critical procedural requirements that will impact litigation strategy before the UPC.

A European patent covering a method for monitoring textile manufacturing processes was revoked after appeal proceedings found that its distinguishing features lacked technical character. The Technical Board of Appeal examined whether data processing steps for predicting manufacturing parameters could contribute to inventive step when their subsequent technical use was not explicitly specified in the claims.

International Arbitration Comparative Guide for the jurisdiction of Germany, check out our comparative guides section to compare across multiple countries

On 24 September 2025, the German Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesfinanzministerium) published an updated version of the guidance on International Mutual Agreement and Arbitration Procedures...

Why is mediation such a success story in the Anglo-American dispute resolution scene while the German market still seems to belittle this powerful mechanism in business cases?