Primetals Austria v Danieli & C (CFI, 22 July 2026)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

In an order of 22 July 2026 issued after the interim conference of 9 July 2026 (Rule 105.5 RoP), the judge-rapporteur of the Milan Local Division organises the next steps in Primetals Technologies Austria’s infringement action against Danieli & C. and the counterclaim for revocation (UPC_CFI_377/2025 and UPC_CFI_702/2025). He adopts the defendant’s feature breakdown of claim 1, directs the proprietor to reduce its 23 auxiliary requests to five and refuses a further exchange of written pleadings on infringement by equivalence. The order shows the judge-rapporteur taking control of the debate ahead of the hearing.

Question

May the judge-rapporteur, at the close of the interim conference, limit the number of auxiliary requests and refuse a further written exchange (Rule 36 RoP) on equivalence?

Decision

Yes. The defendant’s breakdown of claim 1 into seven features is adopted because it closely reflects the literal wording of the claim. The parties must use it at the hearing (point 2). As 23 auxiliary requests are unreasonable, the proprietor must, with the parties’ consent, select five by 31 July 2026, and the defendant may reply by 21 August 2026 on the selection criteria only, without any view on the merits (point 3). The Rule 36 application is dismissed, since nothing prevented the claimant from presenting its equivalence case in full in the written procedure. The admissibility of those arguments is reserved to the panel (point 4). Submissions on the law applicable to the acts complained of are allowed (point 5). The parties are invited to agree on a lump sum for costs (point 7) and the hearing is set for 20 October 2026 (point 8).

Key points for practice

• Practical point: a proprietor filing a large number of auxiliary requests may be required to select a limited number at the interim conference, it is better to rank them during the written procedure.

Provisions applied

Rules of Procedure

Rules 36, 105.5 and 106

Related decisions

• Primetals Austria v Danieli & C, 28 July 2026, order correcting the value of the counterclaim set at point 6 (EUR 1,875,000).

Prepared by Dhenne Avocats from the official decision, consulted on 10 October 2026. The database is updated every week, on Friday. Only the official text is authoritative.