{"id":1835,"date":"2021-06-21T08:01:41","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T06:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/?p=1835"},"modified":"2021-07-29T16:02:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T14:02:40","slug":"patent-enforced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/patent-enforced\/","title":{"rendered":"Patent enforced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our intel\u00adlec\u00adtual prop\u00aderty<\/h4>\n
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A patent protects a tech\u00adnology and grants the holder the exclu\u00adsive right to use it. Competi\u00adtors then have to come up with another idea. Currently, Uhlmann Pac-Systeme GmbH & Co. KG holds over 350 patents for both machines and format parts. Uhlmann\u2019s intel\u00adlec\u00adtual prop\u00aderty (IP) strategy primarily serves to protect the intel\u00adlec\u00adtual prop\u00aderty rights of all Group compa\u00adnies. Specif\u00adi\u00adcally, this means applying for and enforcing patents for valu\u00adable tech\u00adnical inven\u00adtions. If you have reason to suspect any viola\u00adtions or have any queries, you are welcome to contact Dr. Sebas\u00adtian Binder, binder.s@uhlmann-group.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

A mush\u00adroom-shaped clamping bolt, a posi\u00adtioning pin, a groove arranged centrally on the back. All these make the tool clamping system of the B 1440 pretty special. So special, in fact, that Uhlmann applied to have it patented in 2012 for use on all blister machines and blister lines devel\u00adoped after 2012. And so inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive that our main competitor copied it outright. That prompted us to take legal action \u2013 and rightly so, as the Irish High Court recently ruled. But the road to victory in our first patent dispute was long. Dr. Sebas\u00adtian Binder, Corpo\u00adrate Intel\u00adlec\u00adtual Prop\u00aderty Manager of the Group, and Diet\u00adrich Jaedicke, Strategic Product Manager at Uhlmann, share their story with us on behalf of everyone involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all started about five years ago while we were system\u00adat\u00adi\u00adcally combing through and eval\u00adu\u00adating all our patents. Our job was to iden\u00adtify which ones were still rele\u00advant, and which of them were partic\u00adu\u00adlarly impor\u00adtant to Uhlmann in terms of their value and the compet\u00adi\u00adtive edge they provide\u201d says Jaedicke. Once iden\u00adti\u00adfied, it was clear that we had to actively protect these patents, and to go about it with our ears and eyes wide open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spotted on the internet<\/h3>\n

The special features of the B 1440 tool clamping system caught his eye in a place they had no busi\u00adness being: \u201cOn our main competitor\u2019s home\u00adpage, we discov\u00adered a picture of a tool showing some\u00adthing that got our alarm bells ringing. This was a clear case that our patent was being infringed!\u201d Jaedicke and Binder, who have been taking care of patent affairs at Uhlmann since 2016, got to the bottom of the matter. Because, according to Binder, \u201cUhlmann does not just \u2018collect\u2019 patents \u2013 which would be a very expen\u00adsive hobby given that they some\u00adtimes come with a six-figure price tag \u2013 we also enforce them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But to do this, you need evidence. And to get that, you need moti\u00advated employees: \u201cWe held training courses to sensi\u00adtize colleagues who deal directly with customers to iden\u00adtify the patented Uhlmann tool on the basis of special features,\u201d Jaedicke explains. It\u2019s not easy asking a customer for permis\u00adsion to take a photo of a tool part because you suspect that a competitor has copied some\u00adthing. But thanks to the tact and sensi\u00adtivity of our service staff, Uhlmann managed to secure the first photo\u00adgraphic evidence of a patent infringe\u00adment in 2017. Never\u00adthe\u00adless, the competitor was not in the least coop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtive: a meeting at the ACHEMA 2017 trade show with company repre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtives got us nowhere.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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This was a clear case that our patent was being infringed!<\/p>\n

Diet\u00adrich Jaedicke, Strategic Product Manager<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This marked the begin\u00adning of a phase of nego\u00adti\u00ada\u00adtions that lasted until the settle\u00adment reached this year. \u201cUhlmann is not the type of company that imme\u00addi\u00adately resorts to the sledge\u00adhammer approach and liti\u00adgates. We wanted to try to settle this dispute out of court first\u201d, Binder explains. Also, Uhlmann decided, in the words of Binder, to \u201ccare\u00adfully reach out to our customers\u201d so that they, too, are aware that we protect our intel\u00adlec\u00adtual prop\u00aderty rights.<\/p>\n

A tough struggle<\/h3>\n

In the case of the B 1440 tool clamping system, this took a lot of perse\u00adver\u00adance: Since attempts to reach an out-of-court settle\u00adment failed, Uhlmann was ulti\u00admately forced to file a lawsuit in 2018. \u201cFor us, it wasn\u2019t about securing maximum damages for the patent infringe\u00adment, but actu\u00adally getting it stopped.\u201d So at the same time, we continued our efforts to reach an out-of-court settle\u00adment,\u201d says Binder. Further episodes included an equally unsuc\u00adcessful court-ordered medi\u00ada\u00adtion, several post\u00adponed court hear\u00adings, the competitor\u2019s claim that our patent was invalid, numerous expert opin\u00adions, as well as draft contracts and meet\u00adings.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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For us, it wasn\u2019t about securing maximum damages for the patent infringe\u00adment, but actu\u00adally getting it stopped.<\/p>\n

Sebas\u00adtian Binder, Corpo\u00adrate Intel\u00adlec\u00adtual Prop\u00aderty Manager<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Last-minute remorse<\/h3>\n

The virtual trial before the Irish High Court was finally slated for March of this year. And lo and behold: \u201cA week before the hearing, the other party approached us and asked whether a settle\u00adment was still possible. Within two days, we had a contract ready to sign that satis\u00adfied all the condi\u00adtions we had spec\u00adi\u00adfied\u201d, says Binder. Under the terms of the contract, the competitor may no longer infringe on the patent. In addi\u00adtion, they had to pay damages and draw up a list of the customers who had received the tool \u2013 including the serial number: In future, service staff who see the tools at customers\u2019 sites will be able to note down the number and we will know from the list whether it is a new tool and there\u00adfore whether the injunc\u00adtion has been breached. And that really is not advis\u00adable: The contract has been equated to a court ruling, so any viola\u00adtion would be treated as a crim\u00adinal offence.<\/p>\n

Diet\u00adrich Jaedicke and Dr. Sebas\u00adtian Binder are happy with the outcome to which many colleagues have contributed: \u201cThe design depart\u00adment, product manage\u00adment team, the service staff and many more \u2013 we could not have done it without them\u201d, says Binder. Many Uhlmann eyes see better than one.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

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Our competi\u00adtors can only produce the tools so cheaply because they do not have to invest any effort in their devel\u00adop\u00adment!<\/p>\n

Wolf\u00adgang Rodi, Uhlmann Design Engi\u00adneer<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nMr. Rodi, you are the inventor of the B 1440 tool clamp. How much effort has gone into devel\u00adoping the tool clamping system of the B 1440?<\/h5>\n

The time required for a new devel\u00adop\u00adment usually increases propor\u00adtion\u00adally to the degree of inno\u00adva\u00adtion involved. Before submit\u00adting an appli\u00adca\u00adtion for a patent-worthy inno\u00adva\u00adtion, it is impor\u00adtant to research existing patents and tech\u00adniques to ensure that you are not commit\u00adting a patent infringe\u00adment your\u00adself! For a patent to be granted, you also need luck, as there are already count\u00adless solu\u00adtions out there on the market.<\/p>\n

The next chal\u00adlenge is to repro\u00adduce the func\u00adtion as cost-effec\u00adtively as possible in order to ensure that the inven\u00adtion really pays off for the company further down the line. For the tool clamping on the B 1440 tool, all you need is a simple turned part that costs about five euros, as well as a register pin and a small groove. With the rein\u00adven\u00adtion of the clamping on the B 1440, we succeeded for the first time in devel\u00adoping a tool clamp that essen\u00adtially works for all tools on the ther\u00admo\u00adforming machine. What\u2019s also special about the tool clamping system is that the tool is clamped at the point where the planes of the center of the film and the center of the station inter\u00adsect. This made it possible to mini\u00admize the thermal linear expan\u00adsion of the heated tool rela\u00adtive to the cooled tool.<\/p>\n

How do you feel as a devel\u00adoper when your own inven\u00adtion is filed for patent?<\/h5>\n

Obvi\u00adously, you are delighted when a new product devel\u00adop\u00adment proves successful, and even more so when a patent is granted to confirm its world\u00adwide unique\u00adness. Even more impor\u00adtantly, though, is that fact that we, ourselves, have contributed to Uhlmann\u2019s inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive edge which helps secure our jobs on a long-term basis.<\/p>\n

And what do you feel like when your patent is infringed?<\/h5>\n

That makes me really angry, because patent infringe\u00adments mean that we lose impor\u00adtant orders for customer formats.<\/p>\n

How do you feel about the way Uhlmann took action against this case of patent infringe\u00adment and ulti\u00admately won against the competitor?
\n<\/em><\/h5>\n

It was the right deci\u00adsion to make, because if you don\u2019t take action against patent infringe\u00adments, you don\u2019t need to bother applying for patents. Our competi\u00adtors can only produce the tools so cheaply because they do not have to invest any effort in their devel\u00adop\u00adment! For me, it was clear that the competitor was breaking the rules with regard to our patent!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A true inno\u00advator, Uhlmann just keeps turning out new inven\u00adtions. Patents prevent competi\u00adtors from copying them \u2013 as long as you defend them. And the fact that we do is demon\u00adstrated by the case of the \u201cB 1440 tool clamping system\u201d. [\u2026]<\/p>\n

Read More\u2026 from Patent enforced<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pactuell"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1835"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1899,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835\/revisions\/1899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}