INFORMATION FROM THE CONTRACTING / EXTENSION STATES
DE Germany
Judgment of the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice), 10th Civil Senate, dated 13 March 2001 - (X ZR 155/98)1
Headword: Casing element (Schalungselement)
Section 3(1) DE-PatG 1981 (Patent Law)
Keyword: "Novelty- Public prior use through incorporation of the patented object - Confidentiality agreement" (EP 092 693)2
Headnote:
An invention in the form of a component part does not become immediately available to the public merely because the component parts have been used on a single building site associated with the manufacturer and the invention is identifiable only when the component parts are disassembled.
1 Official headnote of the decision, published in full in GRUR 2001, 819; Mitt. 2001, 250.
2 See also Federal Court of Justice: Screw-on hinge, OJ EPO 1999, 710; EPO T 830/90, OJ EPO 1994, 713; EPO T 818/93 and EPO T 480/95, to both of which reference is made in Case Law of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO, 3rd edition 1998, 73.