Federal Act on the Federal Patent Court

¹The Fed­er­al Pat­ent Court has ex­clus­ive jur­is­dic­tion over:

a.

valid­ity and in­fringe­ment dis­putes and ac­tions for is­su­ing a li­cence in re­spect of pat­ents;

b.

or­der­ing pre­lim­in­ary meas­ures be­fore an ac­tion as defined in let­ter a be­comes pending;

c.

the en­force­ment of de­cisions made un­der its ex­clus­ive jur­is­dic­tion.

²It also has jur­is­dic­tion in oth­er civil ac­tions that have a fac­tu­al con­nec­tion to pat­ents, in par­tic­u­lar con­cern­ing the right to pat­ents or their as­sign­ment. The jur­is­dic­tion of the Fed­er­al Pat­ent Court does not pre­clude that of the can­ton­al courts.

³Where the nullity or in­fringe­ment of a pat­ent is to be ad­ju­dic­ated be­fore a can­ton­al court on a pre­lim­in­ary ques­tion or de­fence basis, the judge shall grant the parties a reas­on­able peri­od of time for fil­ing the valid­ity or in­fringe­ment ac­tion be­fore the Fed­er­al Pat­ent Court. The can­ton­al court shall stay the pro­ceed­ings un­til a fi­nal and ab­so­lute de­cision has been made on the ac­tion. Where no ac­tion is filed be­fore the Fed­er­al Pat­ent Court with­in the spe­cified time lim­it, the can­ton­al court shall re­sume the pro­ceed­ings and the pre­lim­in­ary ques­tion or de­fence shall be dis­reg­arded.

⁴Where the de­fend­ant party files a counter-claim of nullity or in­fringe­ment of a pat­ent, the can­ton­al court shall refer both ac­tions to the Fed­er­al Pat­ent Court.