Organisation

Judges

Apart from two permanent judges, the Federal Patent Court has 36 non-permanent judges, of whom 25 possess technical training and 11 legal training. All of them have proven knowledge of patent law.

 

Administrative Board of Judges

The Administrative Board of Judges consists of one permanent judge acting as President (Dieter Brändle), the second permanent judge (Tobias Bremi) and the Vice-President (Frank Schnyder).

 

 Panels

Regular proceedings:

The individual cases are heard by panels consisting of three, five or seven judges. Each panel is comprised of legally trained and technically trained specialists. Designation of the members of the panels is done according to expertise criteria.

 

Preliminary measures:

The President sitting alone adopts decisions on preliminary measures. Where required for legal or factual reasons, the President will involve two other judges in a panel of three to decide on preliminary measures. Where the understanding of a technical matter is of particular significance, decisions must be made in a panel of three.