Federal Patent Court (Switzerland)

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Federal Patent Court BPatGer
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Headquarters St. Gallen , Canton of St. Gallen
Chief President: Mark Schweizer,
Vice President: Frank Schnyder,
second full-time judge: Tobias Bremi
Employees 2 full-time judges,
39 part -time judges
Website www.bundespatentgericht.ch

The Federal Patent Court (BPatGer; French Tribunal fédéral des brevets , Italian Tribunale federale dei brevetti , Romansh Tribunal federal da patentas , English Federal Patent Court ) was created by the Patent Court Act of March 20, 2009 and started its activity as a civil court of first instance in patent matters on March 1 , 2009 . January 2012 in St. Gallen .

The first president of the court until December 31, 2017 was Dieter Brändle, since January 1, 2018 Mark Schweizer, the second full-time judge is Tobias Bremi. The court also has 23 judges and four female judges with technical training as well as 13 judges and one female judge with legal training in part-time work.

In Switzerland, the Federal Patent Court is exclusively responsible for assessing lawsuits relating to validity and infringement of patents as well as lawsuits for the granting of a patent license. It is also exclusively responsible for the ordering of precautionary measures in connection with patents and for the enforcement of such decisions. The Federal Patent Court is also responsible for other civil lawsuits that have a factual connection with patents, in particular, for example, lawsuits in connection with license agreements or in connection with the entitlement to patents. The court meets with three or five people. Depending on the question, judges with different backgrounds are selected.

So there is only one nationally competent first instance civil court for patent disputes in Switzerland: the Federal Patent Court. In contrast to the German system, this is responsible for both the question of infringement and the question of legal validity. Following a judgment by the Federal Patent Court, there is only one appeal instance, namely the Federal Court . The appeal process is short, and the way to a final judgment can be reached quickly. In contrast to most other countries, it comprises only two and not three instances.

In an international comparison, the possibility to conduct patent infringement proceedings in one of the three official languages (i.e. in German, French or Italian) or, with the consent of the parties, in English is remarkable . This possibility of litigation in all three official languages ​​of the European Patent Office (German, French, English) is, together with the fact that not only a legal but also a technical judge has its seat in the court management of a civil court in patent matters, is a European innovation and unique.

Web links

Individual references, footnotes

  1. ↑ Official Bulletin 2010 N 1176