UPC_CFI_197/2025_Aug01 – Powermat v Anker
- Court
- Local Division Mannheim
- Date
- Outcome
- Granted
- Sector
- Other
- Decision Type
- PROCEDURAL
Expert Commentary
Stay Facts Defendants ask for a conditional stay of the proceedings because of the fact that they have filed a FRAND counterclaim in the Local Division in Munich. Order of the Judge-Rapporteur (JR) The request is understood as follows. Defendant wants a stay if the Court would hold that they are infringing a valid patent. That can only be decided after the oral hearing. So the decision on the request is postponed to after the oral hearing. Comment It seems to me that this order is not very helpful since parties do not know what is going to happen with the conditional FRAND counterclaim if the Court finds infringement, obliging them to argue the issue regardless. What defendant wanted to hear, I assume, was that if the Court finds infringement, it will stay the proceedings until the outcome of the FRAND claim pending in Munich.
Full Decision Text
1 Mannheim Local Division UPC_CFI_197/2025 Order of the Court of First Instance of the Unified Patent Court issued on 1 August 2025 concerning EP 2 481 141 concerning App_33539/2025 (Request pursuant to R. 295 RoP) CLAIMANT: Powermat Technologies, Ltd. - Communication Center, Bldg. B - 9085000 - Neve Ilan - IL represented by Ulrich Worm DEFENDANTS/APPLICANTS: 1) Anker Innovations Technology Co., Ltd. - Building 7, Phase I, China Software Park, Yuelu District - 410000 - Changsha (Hunan Province) - CN represented by Christopher Maierhöfer 2) Anker Technology (UK) Ltd. - Gnr8 49 Clarendon Road - WD17 1HP - Watford - GB represented by Christopher Maierhöfer 3) Anker Innovations (Netherlands) B.V. - Weena-zuid 130 - 3012NC - Rotterdam - NL represented by Christopher Maierhöfer 4) Anker Innovations Ltd. - Unit 56, 8th Floor Tower 2, Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road - 0000 - Hong Kong - HK represented by Christopher Maierhöfer 5) Anker Innovations Deutschland GmbH - Georg-Muche-Straße 3 - 80807 - München - DE represented by Christopher Maierhöfer 2 6) Fantasia Trading LLC - 5350 Ontario Mills Pkwy, STE 100 - CA 91764 – Ontario - US represented by Christopher Maierhöfer PATENT AT ISSUE: European patent 2 481 141 PANEL/DIVISION: Panel of the Local Division in Mannheim DECIDING JUDGES: This order was issued by the legally qualified judge Böttcher acting as judge-rapporteur. LANGUAGE OF THE PROCEEDINGS: English SUBJECT OF THE PROCEEDINGS: infringement action; request pursuant to R. 295 RoP BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE FACT Defendants filed a conditional request to stay the proceedings at hand in light of their FRAND counterclaim pending before the LD Munich. Defendants argue, in particular, that a stay would avoid the incurrence of further, unnecessary costs on behalf of the parties and a waste of judicial resources if their FRAND counterclaim would be decided first, thereby clarifying whether Defendants are entitled to such a FRAND licence covering the patent-in-suit at hand. For further details, reference is made to Defendants’ brief of 30 July 2025. Defendants request that the Court, in the event that the Court finds that the Attacked Embodiments make use of any valid and asserted claim or claims of the Patent in Suit, stay the present infringement proceedings (ACT 10747/2025) pending a final decision of the Munich Local Division of this Court regarding Defendants’ FRAND Counterclaim dated 11 July 2025 filed in the proceedings under docket no: UPC_CFI_399/2025, ACT_21153/2025, App_32758/2025. REASONS FOR THE ORDER 1. The request has to be construed as meaning that the panel shall decide upon it after the oral hearing. This follows from the condition that the court finds that the Attacked Embodiments make use of any valid and asserted claim or claims of the patent-in-suit. If the action should be to be dismissed because the patent-in-suit is not infringed or is not valid, the Defendants do not want a stay of the proceedings at hand, but rather dismissal of the infringement action (and, if applicable, revocation of the patent-in-suit) regardless of the outcome of their FRAND counterclaim before the LD Munich. In the absence of further circumstances, at this stage of the proceedings, such a dismissal is only possible on the basis of an oral hearing on the merits of the 3 case. 2. Even if Defendants’ request were interpreted differently, for the reasons stated supra, no decision on this request can be made before the oral hearing in the proceedings at hand is concluded. Only then it can be determined whether the patent-in-suit is infringed and (if the counterclaim for revocation is also heard by the panel) valid and whether Defendants’ FRAND defence is therefore decisive for the outcome of the proceedings at hand. 3. Given that the decision on the request to stay proceedings is being postponed until after the oral hearing, there is no need to hear the Claimant separately. Claimant is free to comment on the request in its forthcoming reply to the statement of defence in the infringement proceedings. ORDER: 1. The decision on Defendants’ request is postponed until after the oral hearing. 2. Claimant may comment on Defendants’ request in its forthcoming reply to the statement of defence in the infringement proceedings. ORDER DETAILS Order no. ORD_34185/2025 in ACTION NUMBER: ACT_10747/2025 UPC number: UPC_CFI_197/2025 Action type: Infringement Action Related proceeding no. Application No.: 33539/2025 Application Type: Generic procedural Application Issued in Mannheim on 1 August 2025 NAME AND SIGNATURE Böttcher Judge-rapporteur
Key Holdings
- Decision on stay pending FRAND counterclaim postponed until after oral hearing.
- Stay conditional on finding of infringement.
Tags
- Counterclaim
- FRAND
- Stay of Proceedings