31.03.2021

JCB to appeal patent decision

On February 26th the Paris Court of Justice ‘Tribunal Judiciaire’ invalidated one of two patents held by JCB and invalidated most of the claims of a second patent relating to a telehandler overload system. It also ordered Manitou to pay JCB €150,000 for the loss suffered, plus €50,000 towards its legal costs, while rejecting JCB’s claim of a loss of €190 million - see: JCB Vs Manitou ruling.

Manitou immediately challenged the decision on the basis that it had not used the device since 2017 and had only done so briefly however JCB has now also appealed the ruling.

The case concerns two specific European patents (065 and 965) held by JCB, which are also the subject of ongoing infringement proceedings against Manitou in the UK and Italy.

JCB chief executive Graeme Macdonald said: “As I have said previously, JCB will not tolerate any infringement of its intellectual property rights. It was evident to the court in 2019 that it felt JCB’s rights were appropriate to protect when it issued a preliminary injunction and instructed Manitou to cease production of certain models. For a different French court to then dismiss certain parts of our claims is difficult to comprehend, and so JCB will be appealing the decision of the Tribunal Judiciaire and continue to vigorously pursue each of the various other pending infringement claims in the relevant jurisdictions.”

JCB has also brought further proceedings against Manitou, in France, the UK and Italy, for infringing a further European patent 382.