A CRA Competition team advised REEL in defending against a damages claim brought by Fives ECL before the Hamburg Local Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC). Both companies manufacture machinery used in aluminum production. ECL sought compensation for alleged lost profits, claiming that a patent infringement by REEL led to a price reduction. On 11 February 2026, the Court dismissed the claim in full. The decision is among the first UPC rulings on the assessment of causation and quantification of damages since the pan-European Court’s launch in 2023.
The CRA team, including Lars Wiethaus, Johannes Dittrich, and Robin Mamrak, supported REEL with an expert report emphasising the importance of assessing the likely counterfactual scenario, namely the profits the claimant would likely have earned absent the infringement. This approach was reflected in the Court’s reasoning. CRA worked alongside counsel from Hogan Lovells and Jones Day.
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