The first oral proceedings on a preliminary injunction before the Vienna Local Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) took place today in front of a full house. The language of the proceedings was German.
The Dutch, German and Austrian judges dealt comprehensively and efficiently with all issues, from urgency to the balance of interests to infringement and invalidity of the patent in dispute. As if the first PI-action was not special enough, – the court also had to decide whether an opt-out after filing the PI request and its withdrawal were binding.
The decision was delivered orally. The court affirmed its jurisdiction but denied infringement despite the milk foaming machine in dispute had been tested during the hearing.