On September 9, 2024, in preliminary injunction proceedings, the District Court of Hildesheim ruled in favour of EIS, confirming that LELO had included incorrect and misleading statements in a press release about the status of the infringement proceedings against LELO products.
As reported previously, on July 25, 2024, the Düsseldorf District Court ruled that the LELO’s products – Sona, Sila, and Enigma – violate the patents of EIS GmbH. As a result, LELO is required to cease distributing the infringing products within the court’s jurisdiction, provide EIS with information about all distributed products and their recipients, and pay damages for the distribution of patent-infringing products. Previously, on October 18, 2022, the European Patent Office had rejected the opposition filed by LELO Europe GmbH against EIS’s patent. LELO has appealed both the decision of the European Patent Office and the Düsseldorf District Court.
Ignoring the status of the proceedings, in a press release LELO provided incorrect and misleading statements, including the following: “Importantly, the German court did not review the patent with regard to its validity; LELO will challenge the patent on these grounds shortly.”
“Accordingly, LELO customers and clients outside of Germany will not be impacted by this ruling in any manner whatsoever.”
In regard to the incorrect statements, firstly on October 18, 2022, the European Patent Office Opposition Division confirmed the validity of the patent EP ‘297 in question. Secondly, it is not unlikely that the courts in other jurisdictions will follow the German court ruling; LELO had not brought forward any counter-argument for this. LELO has the right to file an immediate appeal against the Hildesheim court’s preliminary injunction.
EIS is encouraged by the recent decision of the Hildesheim court to offer former distributors of our competitor LELO, as well as other companies that will respect our patent rights, the opportunity to collaborate with us in promoting and distributing our Satisfyer products.
