Netherlands: CDVI SA v. Impro Technologies Europe B.V.,

The court solved the question of inventive step using the problem-solution approach, defining the objective technical problem without including a pointer to the solution of the problem. This, however, did not help the patentee, since the solution to the problem was already to be found in the common general knowledge and was used in similar ways in at least three different prior art documents relating to the same field of technology. Consequently, the patent was held invalid.

Case date: 21 November 2018

Case number: C/09/542719 / HA ZA 17-1170ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2018:13746

Court: District Court of The Hague

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.