Following the two victories AYLO and BARDEHLE PAGENBERG achieved before the Regional Court Munich I and the UPC Central Division Paris (see our press release of June 2, 2025), two further victories followed last week at the European Patent Office (EPO) and the UPC Local Division Mannheim.
On June 4, 2025, the Opposition Division of the EPO fully revoked the patent EP 3 822 805 (“EP 805”) of DISH Technologies L.L.C. (“DISH”) after oral proceedings on the same day. In the earlier proceedings before the Regional Court of Munich I and the UPC Central Division Paris, the same patent was at issue. With the decision of the Opposition Division, EP 805 was now revoked for all EPC member states upon the opposition filed by AYLO Premium Ltd. (“AYLO”), whereas the revocation decision of the UPC Central Division Paris had only affected the German part of EP 805. The written grounds have not been issued by the EPO yet. However, according to the discussion in the oral proceedings, the Opposition Division’s decision seems to be in full alignment with the revocation decision of the UPC Central Division Paris.
Two days after the decision of the EPO, on June 6, 2025, the UPC Local Division Mannheim published its decision relating to another patent from the same patent family, namely EP 2 479 680 (“EP 680”). This case had been brought by DISH against AYLO for alleged patent infringement in various UPC member states. AYLO argued that the patent is not infringed by its services and additionally attacked the patent with a counterclaim for revocation. The decision of June 6 followed AYLO’s non-infringement arguments and found the patent to be not infringed, neither literally nor under the doctrine of equivalents. In addition, the patent was partially invalidated due to inadmissible amendments. The oral hearing was already held on May 7, 2025.
With these two further victories, AYLO has fended off all attacks of DISH in continental Europe in first instance which is an important milestone in the multinational patent dispute spanning also the US and the UK.
Counsel for AYLO: BARDEHLE PAGENBERG
(Munich)
Prof. Dr. Tilman Müller-Stoy (lead
non-infringement; Attorney-at-Law, UPC Representative, Certified IP
Lawyer, Commercial Mediator (MuCDR), Partner)
Dr. Georg Anetsberger (lead invalidity; German
and European Patent Attorney, UPC Representative, Partner)
Dr. Tobias Wuttke (Attorney-at-Law, UPC
Representative, Certified IP Lawyer, Partner)
Dr. Martin Drews (Attorney-at-Law, UPC
Representative, Counsel)
Maggie Huang (German and European Patent
Attorney, UPC Representative, Senior Associate)
Saskia Mertsching, LL.M. (Attorney-at-Law, UPC
Representative, Associate)
Mishcon de Reya (London)
Conor McLaughlin (European Patent Attorney, UPC Representative,
Managing Associate)
Counsel for DISH: Allen Overy Shearman Sterling
LLP (Munich)
Denise Benz (Attorney-at-Law, UPC Representative)
Dr. Jan Ebersohl (Attorney-at-Law, UPC Representative)
Celina Kuhn (Attorney-at-Law, UPC Representative)
Beck Greener (London)
Nicholas P. Bebbington (Chartered and European Patent Attorney, UPC
Representative
EPO Opposition Division
Edward Cooke (Chairperson)
Frances Hampson (1st examiner)
Raúl Regidor Arenales (2nd examiner)
UPC Local Division Mannheim
Peter Tochtermann (presiding judge, legally qualified)
Dirk Böttcher (judge rapporteur, legally qualified)
Walter Schober (legally qualified judge)
Dennis Kretschmann (technically qualified judge)