Article 55 Reversal of burden of proof
Art 55 UPCA implements Art 34 TRIPs. The rule on the burden of proof contained in Art 54 UPCA would have the effect that the owner of a patent for a procedure (procedural patent) must assert and prove the use of the procedure carried out by the alleged infringer. This would, in many cases, cause great difficulty for the patentee since he may not be able at all or only with a tremendous amount of effort to validly draw a conclusion of the procedure used in production. This applies especially to chemical and pharmaceutical production processes protected by a patent. For those cases, Art 55(1) UPCA provides for a reversal of proof. Each identical product, in the absence of proof to the contrary, will be deemed to have been obtained by the patented process. The reversal of proof exclusively relates to the procedure which was used in the production of the product. In other respects, the burden of proof, according to Art 54 UPCA, remains unchanged. Therefore, also under Art 55(1) UPCA, the patent owner must prove that his product is new and that the accused product is identical to that new product.