Facts
Ferag AG (Plaintiff) is the owner of European Patent No. 0 095 603, which protects a device for collecting folded printed sheets. Müller Martini Maschinenfabrik AG and Müller Martini Marketing AG (Defendants) announced the marketing of a new collating machine "Ultra" in 1994, which the Plaintiff believed infringed its patent. The Commercial Court of the Canton of Aargau initially dismissed the Ferag AG's main claim, but found that Claim 1 of the disputed patent was partially invalid. On appeal by Ferag AG, the Federal Supreme Court overturned this judgment and remanded the case for re-evaluation to the lower court. In its new judgment of 21 December 1999, the Commercial Court granted the Ferag AG's main claim and prohibited the Defendants from manufacturing and distributing the "Ultra" collating machine in Switzerland, insofar as the collection of the printed sheets corresponds to the modified features of Claim 1 of the patent. At the same time, it found that Claim 1 of the disputed patent is only valid to a limited extent.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court upheld the judgment of the Commercial Court. It stated that the court is authorized, in the case of partial invalidity of a patent, to reformulate the unaffected part of the claims itself. The lower court had rightly determined that Claim 1 of the disputed patent did not result in its entirety, but only in parts, in an obvious manner from the prior art. Therefore, a partial invalidity of the claim was permissible. Furthermore, the Federal Supreme Court denied that the patent claim was incompletely disclosed. According to the technical findings of the court expert, the main…