UPC Munich Central Division Judgment - July 21, 2026
The Unified Patent Court's Munich Central Division delivered a decision on a nullity action regarding European Patent EP 4 283 140 B1. The court found that certain claims (1, 2, 5, and 8 to 11) of the patent must be declared null and void. The decision focused on whether structural features of a device claim were novel, concluding that if a prior art device meets these structural criteria, the claim lacks novelty even if all technical effects are not realized in the same manner in the prior art. The court also addressed the issue of apparent clerical errors in prior art, stipulating that no such error is deemed apparent absent clear evidence recognizable by someone skilled in the art. The court partly upheld the nullity action, based on an overextension beyond the subject matter of the patent's first auxiliary request. The hearing's language was German.