GERMANY - On April 14, 2020 Hymmen GmbH filed a patent infringement suit against Barberán S.A. at the District Court in Düsseldorf. 

The matter at issue is the infringement of two industrial property rights of Hymmen GmbH. In the field of digitally printed surfaces, including the digital structuring of surfaces, Hymmen currently owns a considerable number of national and international industrial property right applications, of which a large part has already been granted.

The first patent in suit is the German part of European patent EP 3 109 056 presently in force. The subject matter of the patent covers a process for producing a structure on a surface of a flat workpiece, as well as a device for producing this structure.

Contested is the offer of devices of the Jetmaster series by Barberán S.A., which – in particular under the designation Jetmaster TXT or Jetmaster TRT – serve to apply the patented structure coating as called “True Texture” characteristic.

The second patent in suit is the German part of the European patent EP 2 313 281. This patent is in force as well. The subject matter of the patent covers a process for decorative coating of flat workpieces. Contested are devices from Barberán S.A. such as devices of the Jetmaster series 1260 or 1890 “single pass”.