Any person believing that proceedings for patent infringement may be instituted against him may, prior to the institution of such proceedings, request a decision ruling that the product or process exploited or to be exploited by him does not infringe a particular patent specified by him.
The purpose of the procedure is to prevent an infringement situation leading to a lawsuit. Where a final ruling declaring the lack of infringement has been given, infringement proceedings may not be instituted on the basis of the specified patent in respect of the same product or process.