Procedure

Czech Republic

Preliminary injunction proceedings: In trade mark infringement cases generally, courts have the competence to issue preliminary injunctions (PIs) to secure claims for injunctive relief or for preservation of evidence.

Main proceedings: Injunctive relief, destruction of infringing goods, removal of infringing goods from the market, rendering of accounts, provision of information, publication of the judgment and, subsequently, payment (in the form of an adequate licence fee, damages, or reimbursement of the infringer's profit, ie unjust enrichment) may be claimed in main, substantive proceedings on the merits. In the Czech Republic, a decision in PI proceedings requires the plaintiff to initiate main infringement proceedings within a period of time set out by the court in its resolution ordering the PI (typically one month); otherwise, the PI ceases to have legal effect. The initiation of PI proceedings before main proceedings is not mandatory; the infringed party may institute main proceedings immediately (and potentially claim a PI within it, or not).

Warning letter: Before initiating infringement proceedings, the claimant may first send a cease and desist letter to the defendant, requesting a declaration that the defendant agrees to stop using the conflicting sign immediately. It is not mandatory to send such a letter before proceedings are initiated, but it is strongly advisable as otherwise, the plaintiff may seriously jeopardise its own right to claim compensation for costs of proceedings successfully from the defendant.

First instance: The Municipal Court of Prague decides exclusively as the court of first instance in disputes arising from trade mark infringement, including related PIs, with respect to the entire Czech Republic.

Court of Appeal: A first instance decision of the Municipal Court of Prague may be appealed at the High Court in Prague. The appeal should be brought to the court that issued the decision (ie the Municipal Court of Prague) within 15 days after its written decision is served.

The means of proof in main proceedings can be documents (eg contracts, out of court correspondence, pictures), witnesses, visual inspection, expert evidence, and party testimony. A general principle for the burden of proof is that the party claiming some matters of fact bears the burden of proof in that respect. In the main proceedings, all relevant facts must be fully proved to the satisfaction of the court. In PI proceedings, a lower standard of evidence applies – it is enough if matters of fact claimed are 'sufficiently demonstrated'. In addition, PI proceedings under the rules of Czech civil procedure are exclusively ex parte ones, ie there is no court hearing, and the court bases its decision on the applicant’s written submissions – ie witness statements, party testimonies and expert opinions (unless provided by the applicant in writing) are not applicable.

In the Czech Republic, there is no discovery in civil proceedings, such as there are in court proceedings in the UK or discovery proceedings in the US.

Preliminary injunction: The court will decide on an application for a PI without undue delay and in any case within seven days after it was lodged.

Main proceedings: A judgment can usually be expected within one year after the filing of the court action. Appeal proceedings will usually also take approximately one year. However, the duration of proceedings will depend on the individual case and the workload of the relevant court.

The court determines liability for the costs of the proceedings in its final decision, concluding the matter without requiring a specific application. In that decision, the court also decides on the costs of related PI proceedings, if any.

Costs of legal representation, ie costs of lawyers representing the party bringing the case, are not compensated on the basis of the actual costs but on a calculation set out in the official fee tariff decree. This typically results in the amount being lower (not necessarily substantially) than the actual costs incurred.

The court may also order a party or its representative to bear costs that would not otherwise have arisen, where such costs were incurred due to their fault, or resulted from, an incident attributable to them.