No stay of liability issue, but prospect of some sort of stay of relief remains

Fontem Holdings 1BV and another v Ten Motives Ltd and another; Nicocigs Ltd v Fontem Holdings 1BV and another [2015] EWHC 2752 (Pat), is 2 October 2015 ruling by Mr Justice Norris, in the Patents Court, England and Wales.

In short, this was an application by the defendant -- the alleged infringer -- for summary judgment on infringement of a patent for an e-cigarette, or in the alternative an application to stay the action pending the outcome of European Patent Office (EPO) opposition proceedings. In a pretty short judgment for a patent case (just 46 paragraphs in length) Norris J summarised the law, considered the issue of infringement and briefly set out the particular circumstances of the new and rapidly-growing market for e-cigarettes.

Given the nature and speed of change in the marketplace, he said, there was a clear need for a much earlier determination of the validity and infringement issues in the national litigation than the earliest possible date for completion of the EPO's opposition proceedings. If however infringement were proven at trial, there remained the possibility of some sort of stay when it came to sorting out the appropriate relief.