Orange-Book-Standard

Orange-Book-Standard (Az. KZR 39/06) is a decision issued on May 6, 2009 by the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) on the interaction between patent law and technical standards, and more generally between intellectual property law and competition law. The Court held that a defendant, accused of patent infringement and who was not able to obtain a license from the patentee, may defend himself, under certain conditions, by invoking an abuse of a dominant market position.

The name "Orange-Book-Standard" comes from the Orange Book that contained the format specifications for CD-Rs, the technology at issue in the case that led to the Orange-Book-Standard decision.