The German Federal Supreme Court confirms its case law regarding use claims

In a decision, the German Federal Supreme Court has confirmed its case law according to which in a patent invalidity proceeding changing of a device claim into a use claim is admissible. It is mandatory that the patentee who has obtained during patent prosecution a too broad device claim gets a fair protection if his inventive contribution is specifically the teaching to use a known device in a non-obvious manner (Beispiel-Link: Zur Grünecker Startseite).