Experienced colleagues know that legal proceedings can also be won simply with a potentially overwhelming cost burden. Often also in litigation are the costs of a patent attorney in the context of warnings or lawsuits from UWG facts.
The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt recently delivered a verdict on this.
According to this, the costs of the participation of a patent attorney may also be refundable in a competition case if patent specifications and registered designs had to be taken into account when searching for the formal treasure. This also applies to the travel expenses of a patent attorney on an appointment.
However, this is different with regard to obtaining a private legal opinion, since it is only regularly to be regarded as a party lecture. The costs incurred for this purpose are regularly non-refundable, since an expert opinion is not, in principle, necessary for the assessment of the legal questions raised in connection with the protection of performance under competition law. This would be different only in the context of a decision of evidence in an ongoing procedure.
