NORWAY LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Lars Erik Steinkjer, Nora Bratheim and Guro S K Nybø, Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma AS
5.5 Legal Costs Legal costs are normally recoverable from the losing party unless the court decides to reduce the amount, owing to it being unreasonably high. Hence the losing party will typically be required to pay all costs to the party that prevails in a litigation. 5.6 Relevance of Claimant/Plaintiff Conduct to Relief The court may decide that the winning party should bear its own costs partially or in full – for example, if the winning party is to blame for the matter coming before a court or has declined a reasonable settlement offer. The Norwegian Dispute Act further provides that a party may recover costs that arise from the counterparty’s conduct, such as censurable actions or omis - sions that make the procedure more complex than it already is. The parties’ conduct prior to the proceedings is also relevant – for example, if the claimant fails to notify or inform about the existence of relevant evidence. Trade mark disputes within the life sciences and pharma sector are not very common in Norway. The few cases that have been tried before the courts concern medical devices and repacking issues related to parallel import of pharmaceu - ticals. 6.2 Copyright Copyright issues may also arise in the life sci - ences and pharma sector, but are very seldom litigated before the courts. 6. Other IP Rights 6.1 Trade Marks
exception has not been used by a Norwegian court. 5.4 Damages Damages are calculated on the basis of lost profits. In order to estimate the potential dam - ages exposure, one would need to provide proof of the suffered damages (eg, loss of sales of a generic or biosimilar). The time period for claim - ing damages based on a patent infringement is three years from when the cause of action accrued. This period will commence at the time of infringement; however, if the infringement has been concealed during this three-year period, the damage claim is not time-barred until the expiration of a one-year period from the time when the claimant should – with reasonable dili - gence – have discovered the infringement. Damages are normally assessed as part of the infringement action – ie, there is no separate pro - cedure for establishing the quantum of damag - es. The infringer is liable for damages in the form of remuneration for the exploitation of the inven - tion and, if applicable, compensation for any fur - ther economic loss to the claimant caused by the infringement. The patentee can also choose to claim the infringer’s profits. Thus, the patent owner can either claim their own lost profits, rea - sonable royalties on sales by the defendant, or the defendant’s profits. If the infringement has been committed inten - tionally or through gross negligence, the paten - tee can claim compensation corresponding to 200% of a reasonable royalty. With the exception of the option of claiming 200% of a reasonable royalty when the patent infringement was wilful or grossly negligent, punitive damages are not an option under Nor - wegian law.
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