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Preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU in the case between Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG v. HARTING Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, Harting Electric GmbH & Co. KG, 28 April 2022, Case No. C‑44/21, ECLI:EU:C:2022:309

“By its question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 9(1) of Directive 2004/48 must be interpreted as precluding national case-law under which applications for interim relief for patent infringement must, in principle, be dismissed where the validity of the patent concerned has not been confirmed, at the very least, by a decision given at first instance in opposition or invalidity proceedings.

“Article 9(1) of Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights must be interpreted as precluding national case-law under which applications for interim relief for patent infringement must, in principle, be dismissed where the validity of the patent in question has not been confirmed, at the very least, by a decision given at first instance in opposition or invalidity proceedings.”

The judgment (available in various languages) can be read here.