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Kiremko B.V. v. Tomra Sorting Limited, District Court The Hague, 10 November 2021, Case no. ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2021:12267

Tomra holds EP 1 289 385 relating to a ‘Steam Peeling Processing System’. Kiremko markets the steam peeling machine Strata Invicta in the Netherlands. Various proceedings have already been conducted between the parties regarding (alleged infringement with) the Strata Invicta.

Kiremko seeks declaratory judgment that Kiremko’s Strata Invicta does not fall within the scope of protection of EP 385.

The dispute as the Court states, essentially concerns the interpretation of the second part of feature 1.2 of claim 1 of EP 385 in connection with the scope of protection of the patent.

“In the opinion of the Court, it will become apparent to the man skilled in the art from reading those passages and studying the drawings that the invention is limited to a substantially spherical vessel having opposite sides flattened such that the defined aspect ratio A:B is equal to or greater than 1.2:1. That explanation is reasonable and understandable in view of the description and is supported by drawings 13 and 14 of the patent which show a vessel with an aspect ratio of approximately 2:1. This restrictive reading is furthermore not inconsistent with the inventive idea, which after all relates to the improved technical effect that results from the combination of an essentially spherical pressure vessel with flattened side surfaces with lifting feature(s).”

A copy of the decision (in Dutch) can be read here.