Lindsay Lane was instructed by Dehns on behalf of the Defendant, Freyssinet, in this claim for patent infringement and counterclaim for revocation in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court.
The Claimants were joint proprietors of a patent which claimed a system for protecting steel rebars in reinforced concrete. The Claimants alleged that various acts of the Defendant were infringing, including the provision of the Defendant’s own concrete protection system and the production of certain documents by the Defendant at the request of one of the Claimants. The Defendant sought revocation of the patent for lack of novelty and inventive step.
HHJ Hacon held there was no liability on the Defendant’s part, as the principal method claim of the patent was valid but not infringed, and the principal system claim was invalid for lack of inventive step.