GERMANY LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Dr. Clemens Tobias Steins, Dr. Michael Pfeifer, Dr. Daniel Grohs and Dr. Bianca-Lucia Vos, Hoffmann Eitle
5.6 Relevance of Claimant/Plaintiff Conduct to Relief German courts have no discretion to reduce or withhold relief because of a plaintiff’s conduct unless the plaintiff holds a dominant position and if the conduct constitutes an abuse of that dominant position under competition law (Article 102 TFEU).
In nullity proceedings, the FCJ is the appeal instance so that the bifurcated tracks of the Ger - man system converge at the FCJ. 7.2 Appeal Court(s) Arbiter The higher regional courts and the FCJ also have
specialised patent panels. 7.3 Special Provisions
Patent infringement proceedings are subject to the same rules as any other civil procedure case. Special provisions only apply to nullity proceed - ings.
6. Other IP Rights 6.1 Trade Marks
There are no special rules for trademarks relat - ing to pharmaceuticals or life sciences, so any trademark must not be misleading or cause con - fusion with a pre-existing trademark. In the life science field, trademark disputes are most common regarding repackaging pharma - ceuticals for parallel import. 6.2 Copyright It is currently unknown if there are any copyright disputes in the life sciences and pharma sector in Germany. 6.3 Trade Secrets Trade secret disputes are so far not very com - mon in Germany in the pharma and life sciences sector. 7. Appeal 7.1 Timeframe to Appeal Decision Main infringement judgements and judgements in provisional injunction proceedings can be appealed at the higher regional courts. A further appeal at the Federal Court of Justice (FCJ) on a point of law is possible only in main infringement proceedings.
8. Other Relevant Forums/ Procedures 8.1 The UPC or Other Forums
The Unified Patent Court (UPC) has made a promising beginning, with cases from the life sciences and pharmaceuticals sector being pre - sented at the UPC. However, national litigation continues to play a more significant role in this field, and this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. 9. Alternative Dispute Resolution 9.1 ADR Options Mediation and other forms of alternative dis - pute resolution are available and may be sug - gested by the court under Section 278a GCCP, but they require the consent of both parties. The parties are also free to agree on any alternative approach to resolving their dispute, eg, through an expert determination. The parties may agree on such ADR once a dispute has arisen or in advance, as often is the case in IP contracts.
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