In a procedural order issued on 26 February 2025 (UPC_CFI_11/2024), the Local Division Düsseldorf of the Unified Patent Court dismissed Hefei Xinhu Canned Motor Pump Co., Ltd.'s (the defendant) request to file an additional pleading concerning the invalidation of a corresponding Chinese patent.
The defendant sought to introduce a decision by the State Intellectual Property Office in Beijing, which had declared the Chinese equivalent of the patent in suit invalid on 6 January 2025 based on the same prior art. The request was filed on 19 February 2025, more than six weeks later, with no justification for the delay. Additionally, the decision was submitted only in Chinese, without a German translation, despite German being the language of the proceedings. The Court also found that the decision did not introduce any new arguments beyond those already raised.
The plaintiff had objected to the delay, and the Court agreed that the defendant had not explained why it had waited so long to file the request. With the oral hearing scheduled for 27 March 2025, the Court noted that the defendant could respond to this objection at the hearing, making an additional written pleading unnecessary. The request was therefore dismissed.
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