In order to accelerate proceedings, the amendment provides for procedural changes to facilitate better synchronisation of nullity proceedings and infringement proceedings before the District Courts and before the Federal Patent Court.
Sec. 83 Patent Act introduces a procedural provision according to which the Federal Patent Court should provide its preliminary opinion within six months after filing of the nullity action. Therefore, the Federal Patent Court proceedings between the service of the action and the preliminary opinion should be streamlined.
By supplementing the provisions on the preliminary opinion, the amendment addresses another aspect of the German patent system that has been criticised - bifurcation and the injunction gap:
While patent infringement proceedings before the District Courts can regularly lead to a (provisionally) enforceable injunction within a relatively short time (often within a year or a year and a half), the separate nullity proceedings before the Federal Patent Court often take substantially longer. The amendment intends to attenuate the injunction gap and reduce legal uncertainty.
However, due to the numerous invalidity proceedings still pending before the Federal Patent Court (which are to be reduced within the next six years), it appears questionable whether the planned preliminary opinion will actually become standard procedure after six months.