Patents Unlocked: The Litigation Podcast

Episode 2 : Doctrine of Equivalence – UPC and beyond

In episode 2, our experts Julia Schönbohm and Bolko Ehlgen join host Charlotte Kieslich and dive into the doctrine of equivalence, a critical and complex area of patent litigation. In addition, they pick up recent developments on long‑arm jurisdiction following the first episode of our podcast series. They explore:

📌 Long‑arm jurisdiction update: how the Court of Appeal has clarified and limited the UPC’s cross‑border patent jurisdiction

📌 Doctrine of equivalence at the UPC: why “words have limits” and how courts are using equivalence to balance fair protection for patentees with legal certainty for competitors

📌 Functional construction first, equivalence second: how the NanoString v. 10x Genomics framework and a more functional claim construction can reduce the need to rely on equivalence

📌 No harmonised test (yet): divergent Local Division approaches and the crucial role of the Court of Appeal in bringing about uniformity

📌 Practical takeaways for litigants: why parties are already testing the doctrine of equivalence at the UPC, and how to deal with the current uncertainty of the UPC equivalence test to be applied

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