INFORMATION FROM THE CONTRACTING / EXTENSION STATES
DE Germany
Judgment of the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice) dated 25 November 2003
(X ZR 162/00)1
Headword: "Diabehältnis" (Slide container)
Section 115 PatG (Patent Law)
Keyword: "Court-appointed expert - Assessment of inventive step"
Headnote:
The particular task of the court-appointed expert is to inform the court about the knowledge and ability of the skilled person and the approach taken by the latter in addressing technical problems in his field. The question whether the solution according to the invention was obvious to the skilled person, having regard to that person's established knowledge and ability, involves an act of evaluative judgment and is not a matter for assessment by the expert.
1 Official text of the headnote. The decision has been published in GRUR 2004, 411.