Headwater Research v Motorola Mobility (CFI, ORD_65306/2024, 14 April 2025)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

By an order of 14 April 2025 (UPC_CFI_149/2024), the judge-rapporteur of the Munich Local Division dismissed Headwater Research’s application to sever its infringement action (EP 3 110 069), insofar as it targets Flextronics International Europe, the fifth defendant, from the proceedings against the Motorola companies and Digital River, and to waive a new court fee. The delay concerning Flextronics stemmed from the claimant’s mistake as to which company it sued. The order confirms that severance under Rule 303.2 is driven first by procedural economy.

Question

May a claimant have the action against a co-defendant whose proceedings have fallen behind severed, so as to speed up judgment against the others?

Decision

No. Rule 303.2 confers a discretion: procedural economy must be weighed against any unfair disadvantage to a party (paragraph 8). Only the more advanced stage of the proceedings against defendants 1 to 4 favoured severance. Procedural economy called for a joint hearing, since the actions concern the same embodiment and Flextronics allegedly acts as logistics provider and intermediary for the Motorola companies, which also avoids conflicting decisions (paragraph 9). A delay of a few months is not unfair in itself, particularly as it resulted from the claimant’s choice to sue first an entity that did not exist or lacked capacity, not from a mere misnomer. It could have brought a separate action from the outset (paragraph 10). In any event no hearing date was available that would allow defendants 1 to 4 to be heard earlier (paragraph 11). The fee question did not arise (paragraph 7).

Key points for practice

• A claimant that misidentified a defendant bears the resulting delay and cannot rely on it to obtain severance.

Provisions applied

Rules of Procedure

Rule 303.2

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.