“Evaporation Dryer System [Verdampfungstrockneranlage]”
摘要
Profits from the performance of a contract, which is causally related to a patent-infringing offer, may not be disregarded when calculating the damage caused by this offer simply because the acts carried out in the performance of this contract took place in a patent-free foreign country. If there is a sufficient causal connection, the injured party is generally free to calculate his damages on the basis of its own lost profit or a reasonable licence fee. In the event of a patent infringement, the defence that the same economic effect could also have been achieved by non-infringing acts cannot in principle lead to the exclusion of a claim for damages. The calculation of damages on the basis of a reasonable licence fee is not excluded simply because there is no relevant licensing practice in the industry. From the point of view of a commercially minded right holder, the low level of protection provided by a prohibition relating solely to the offering is not a sufficient reason to authorise offers in Germany free of charge and thus to waive part of the protection to which he is entitled.