The German Federal Supreme Court decides on claim construction

In a decision of June 2, 2015, (X ZR 103/13 „Kreuzgestänge“) the German Federal Supreme Court has made interesting statements regarding claim construction. The court dealing with infringement is not bound to the claim construction given by another court dealing with the patent validity, not even then if the latter court is the German Federal Supreme Court. Rather, the court dealing with infringement has to arrive on its own to a claim construction. Then, the decision reads: “When a patent description describes several embodiments as belonging to the invention, then the terms, which are used in a patent claim, are, in case of doubt, to be understood in a way that all those embodiments can be used for purposes of their interpretation. Only if and to the extent that the teaching of a patent claim cannot be brought into conformity with the description and the drawings and indissoluble contradictions remain, then those parts of the description have no impact on the patent claim and cannot be used for the definition of its object.” In the actual case, the German Federal Supreme Court has scrapped a judgment of the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf and confirmed the first instance decision of the District Court of Düsseldorf.