The Federal Patent Court of Germany has invalidated parts of a patent held by Durst Phototechnik Digital Technology GmbH relating to white ink printing that the company previously used to assert an infringement action against EFI.
Durst sued EFI for allegedly infringing German patent No. 10 2005 006 092. In response to those allegations, EFI filed a nullity action in the Federal Patent Court of Germany, asking the court to invalidate the portions of the patent asserted against EFI, on the grounds that what Durst was claiming to be an infringement, had actually been disclosed years before.
On 23 October 2013, the German Federal Patent Court agreed with EFI and invalidated substantial parts of Durst’s patent. Under German law, Durst has the right to appeal. Should there be no appeal, years of legal battles between the two companies will come to an end.
German courts in Mannheim and Karlsruhe have already held a Durst utility model claiming the same invention invalid for similar reasons.
‘We at EFI believe that competition should be customer-focused, not litigation-focused. It should be based on genuine innovations, not on questionable patent claims. And it should take place in the marketplace, not in the courtroom,’ said EFI’s general counsel Bryan Ko. ‘We will always defend ourselves vigorously when necessary, but we will continue to focus first on ideas and technology to help our customers succeed.’
