Patent Dispute Over Egg Packaging: Brødrene Hartmann Defends its imagic® Patent
January, 2019 - Germany
On December 18, 2018 the German Federal Court of Justice decided on the validity of a patent relating to a product design of egg packages with a particular combination of major planar surfaces, egg-shaped areas and supporting ribs. The Federal Court of Justice ruled that the German part of the European patent EP 1 373 100 B1 is valid if its claim 1 is combined with the granted claims 29 and 30, which relate to a specific pattern of supporting ribs. The owner of this patent is the Danish company Brødrene Hartmann, which is a leader in moulded fibre packaging solutions for eggs and fruit. The patent corresponds to Hartmann’s imagic® egg packages.
With its decision, the Federal Court of Justice reversed a first instance decision of the Federal Patent Court dated January 31, 2017. The decision is final and non-appealable. The claimant of first instance, and defendant in the appeal proceedings, was the company Omni-Pac Ekco GmbH Verpackungsmittel.
Brødrene Hartmann was represented by lawyers of the German law firm Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, in collaboration with patent attorneys of the firms Cohausz & Florack (Germany) and Budde Schou A/S (Denmark).
The trial team was led by lawyer Dr. Anton Horn. "We are happy that the highest German court in patent matters acknowledged the innovative nature of the imagic® product design. This is a good basis for taking appropriate steps against companies that infringe the patent and use its specific pattern of supporting ribs", commented Horn.
Counsels to Brødrene Hartmann, Denmark
Lawyers
• Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, Dr. Anton Horn, Birthe Struck, LL.M. (both Düsseldorf)
Patent attorneys
• COHAUSZ & FLORACK, Düsseldorf / Germany: Andreas Thielmann (German patent attorney and European Patent Attorney)
• Budde Schou A/S, Copenhagen / Denmark: Jan Sørensen (Danish patent attorney)
