The European Court of Justice (Third Chamber) delivered its judgment in Solvay v. Honeywell on July 12 (Case C 616/10).

The facts of the case were the following:

12 On 6 March 2009, Solvay, the proprietor of European patent EP 0 858 440, brought an action in the Rechtbank ‘s-Gravenhage for infringement of the national parts of that patent, as in force in Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Sweden, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, against the Honeywell companies for marketing a product HFC-245 fa, manufactured by Honeywell International Inc. and identical to the product covered by that patent.

13 Specifically, Solvay accuses Honeywell Flourine Products Europe BV and Honeywell Europe NV of performing the reserved actions in the whole of Europe and Honeywell Belgium NV of performing the reserved actions in Northern and Central Europe.

14 In the course of its action for infringement, on 9 December 2009 Solvay also lodged an interim claim against the Honeywell companies, seeking provisional relief in the form of a cross-border prohibition against infringement until a decision had been made in the main proceedings.

15 In the interim proceedings, the Honeywell companies raised the defence of invalidity of the national parts of the patent concerned without, however, having brought or even declared their intention of bringing proceedings for the annulment of the national parts of that patent, and without contesting the competence of the Dutch court to hear both the main proceedings and the interim proceedings.

The national court wondered, inter alia, whether this was a case where there was a risk of irreconcilable judgments in the meaning of Article 6 of the Regulation, and whether

Article 22(4) of [Regulation No 44/2001] [is] applicable in proceedings seeking provisional relief on the basis of a foreign patent (such as a provisional cross-border prohibition against infringement), if the defendant argues by way of defence that the patent invoked is invalid, taking into account that the court in that case does not make a final decision on the validity of the patent invoked but makes an assessment as to how the court having jurisdiction under Article 22(4) of [that] Regulation would rule in that regard, and that the application for interim relief in the form of a prohibition against infringement shall be refused if, in the opinion of the court, a reasonable, non-negligible possibility exists that the patent invoked would be declared invalid by the competent court?

The Court answered:

1. Article 6(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, must be interpreted as meaning that a situation where two or more companies established in different Member States, in proceedings pending before a court of one of those Member States, are each separately accused of committing an infringement of the same national part of a European patent which is in force in yet another Member State by virtue of their performance of reserved actions with regard to the same product, is capable of leading to ‘irreconcilable judgments’ resulting from separate proceedings as referred to in that provision. It is for the referring court to assess whether such a risk exists, taking into account all the relevant information in the file.

2. Article 22(4) of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as not precluding, in circumstances such as those at issue in the main proceedings, the application of Article 31 of that regulation.

The first commentary on the (Proposal for a) Common European Sales has just been released. Edited by Reiner Schulze from the University of Munster it provides an article by article-analysis of the envisioned optional instrument. More information is available on the publisher’s website. The official announcement reads as follows.

The landscape of European Contract Law is rapidly taking shape. In October 2011, the European Commission proposed a Common European Sales Law (CESL) to facilitate cross-border transactions between businesses and between businesses and consumers. It contains a complete sales law and provisions for the supply of digital content and purchase of related services.

The Commentary analyses all 202 articles of the CESL, explains their function and doctrinal context and indicates the possible problems of their application. In doing so it offers a critical contribution to the legislative procedure and prepares practising lawyers, legal scholars and students for the use of the new European case law. Each article is dealt with in the same structure:

• Function and underlying principles
• Systematical context
• Analysis and interpretation, including references to potential problems in practice
• Criticism and possible improvements
• The authors are renowned jurists from numerous European countries and with great experience in European and international contract law

Caroline Harvey, University of Oxford, and Michael Schilling, King’s College London, have published a paper dealing with the (consequences of an ineffective) choice of the Common European Sales Law (CESL). The paper can be downloaded here. The abstract reads as follows:

In order to opt in to the proposed Common European Sales Law, the parties must utilise the mechanism set out in the Regulation, in accordance with which they ‘agree to use the CESL’ and thus subject their contract to the CESL. This article examines an issue that has so far received little attention: the question of how the agreement to use CESL and the contract under CESL interact. Given the formal requirements that the agreement to use CESL is subject to, the agreement to use the CESL may easily suffer from a defect. The parties may then purport to conclude a contract governed by the CESL, but without a fully effective agreement that the CESL applies to it. In such circumstances the question arises whether that contract may still be effective under the CESL or under national law, in particular where the parties have performed their (perceived) obligations.

The latest issue of “Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht  – The Rabel Journal of Comparative and International Private Law” (RabelsZ) has just been released. It contains the following articles:

• Reinhard Zimmermann, Testamentsformen: »Willkür« oder Ausdruck einer Rechtskultur? (Testamentary Form Requirements: Arbitrary or Expression of Legal Culture?), pp. 471-508

In the history of European private law the law of succession used to play a central role. This is different today. In most modern legal systems, comparatively little scholarly attention is devoted to it; in some of them it is not even a mandatory subject of legal training in the universities. Widely, the law of succession is regarded as static and somewhat boring. In addition, it is taken to be deeply rooted in fundamental cultural values of a society and, therefore, not suitable for comparative study or even legal harmonization. The present article challenges these views, as far as the law of testamentary formalities is concerned. It traces the comparative history of the three main types of form requirements: writing in the testator’s own hand, reliance on witnesses, and involvement of a court of law or notary. It is argued that the differences between the legal systems found today do not reflect cultural differences and can, indeed, often be regarded as rather accidental; that the comparative study of a large variety of issues concerning testamentary formalities can indeed be meaningful and enlightening; that in a number of legal systems the law relating to testamentary formalities has been changed more often than many parts of the supposedly much more dynamic law of obligations; that the international will constitutes an unhappy compromise between the will-types found in the various national legal systems and that it is, therefore, not surprising that the Washington Convention has been so remarkably unsuccessful. Attention is also drawn to the purposes served by the form requirements for wills and to the fact that, in the modern world, the holograph will (traditionally regarded as the simplest and most convenient way to make a will) is rapidly acquiring a much more solemn character. This paper is based on the Savigny lecture, delivered in Marburg on 24 October 2011, to mark the 150th anniversary of Savigny’s death. It therefore concludes by asking why Savigny does not appear to have devoted much attention to the law of succession, what Savigny thought of testamentary formalities, and whether that may have any significance for us today.This paper explores the “optional instrument“ as a regulatory tool inEuropean private law.

•  Dethloff, Nina, Der deutsch-französische Wahlgüterstand – Wegbereiter  für eine Angleichung des Familienrechts? (The Franco-German Optional Matrimonial Property Regime – A Trailblazer for the Alignment of Family Law?)  pp. 509-539

The Franco-German Convention signed on the 4th of February 2010 creates a new optional matrimonial property regime that can be elected by spouses and that is subject to the same provisions in both countries. With regard to its content, the property regime is not a fundamentally new concept, instead joining elements of the German default property regime and the French optional property regime of a community of accrued gains in a quite successful manner. The implementation of elements of the French legal system, which generally places a stronger emphasis on rights in rem, improves the just participation of the spouses compared to the German regime that is rather focused on practicability and legal certainty. On the other hand, the new optional property regime seems more suitable for application in practice than the French property regime, which – due to its lumbering regulation – has not to date been commonly used. The level of protection that is attributed to the family home by the new optional community of accrued gains is not only consistent with the European common core, but from a German point of view it also establishes a clear advantage that cannot be reached by a contractual agreement.

The major significance of the new common matrimonial property regime, however, lies in the fact that for the first time ever, identical substantive family law will be applied in two European countries. Nonetheless, the potential benefits of this uniform law will only be realised to full extent if beyond the mere unification of the law, a consistent interpretation of the provisions can be reached in the member states. Whether the new property regime unveils a ground-breaking impact will primarily depend on its future development from a bilateral convention to a uniform optional European property regime. Analysing the model from a comparative point of view and in due consideration of the therein contained option for other countries to join the Convention, the stipulations seem at least generally suitable for affiliation. However, if in a second step the community of property, which is also very common in many European countries, were to be established as a further optional matrimonial property regime – be it at a binational, multinational or even European level – this should be based on the sound foundation of a detailed comparative law inquiry, taking into account in particular the evolving Principles of Matrimonial Property Law of the Commission of European Family Law. Moreover the Franco-German community of accrued gains could function as the initial spark for the creation of further uniform law. The choice of a uniform property regime facilitates the asset planning that is usually extremely complex in crossborder situations. Nevertheless, due to the diverging stipulations of maintenance law in the participating countries as well as the varying compensation mechanisms and the different scope of judicial review or authorisation schemes, the economic consequences of a divorce can vary considerably. This could be countered by an optional uniform legal framework encompassing all aspects of marriage law. Spouses could choose this legal regime upon contracting marriage. Thus, the new Franco-German property regime could lead the way to a uniform European optional property regime and ultimately to a European marriage.

• Helmut Koziol, Grabriele Koziol, Ansprüche des geschädigten Retters bei Selbstgefährdung eines Bergsteigers – Lösungsansätze im österreichischen, deutschen und japanischen Recht (Self-endangerment of an Alpinist – Claims of the Damaged Rescuer: Approaches under Austrian, German and Japanese Law), pp. 540-561

If an alpinist places himself in an emergency situation due to his own lack of care or boldness and another person in trying to rescue him suffers damage, the question arises on which basis and to which extent the rescuer is entitled to claim damages from the rescued alpinist. The present article surveys possible solutions under the doctrine of negotiorum gestio in case of necessity and tort law under Austrian, German and Japanese law. While all three legal systems provide for the compensation of expenses incurred by the negotiorum gestor, none of them has an explicit provision on the compensation of damage suffered by thenegotiorum gestor. For Austrian law, an analogous application on the liability of the principal in case of contractual agency which is based on the idea of assumption of risks is proposed. German and Japanese law, however, seek to solve the problem through a broad interpretation of the term “expenses“. Japanese law offers still a further solution with statutory compensation schemes for rescuers in certain emergency situations. As for claims based on tort law, the problem arises that it cannot easily be argued that it is wrongful to put oneself at risk by going on a dangerous mountain hike. Thus, a careful balancing of the i

• Kuipers, Jan-Jaap, Bridging the Gap – The Impact of the EU on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations, pp. 562-596

Michel Attal, who lectures and practices in Toulouse, and Julie Bauchy, a doctoral student at  Toulouse I University, edited the first French code of private international law last year.

The book is not an official code but rather an academic entreprise which purports to gather all applicable rules (statutes, international treaties, European regulations and directives) of private international law.

More information on this useful pocketbook is available here.