"Pallet Container II” (Palettenbehälter II)

• a) If the replacement of certain elements is part of the intended use of a patented product, this replacement can also be carried out on a copy put into circulation with the consent of the patent holder by competitors who for this purpose acquire the copy in need of repair and resell it to third parties following the repair.

• b) The principle set up by this Court, according to which the question whether the identity of the processed object is maintained despite the replacement of components or whether the measures constitute the making of a new patented product, may also depend on whether these are components whose replacement can as a rule be expected during the working life of the device and the extent to which the technical effects of the invention are reflected precisely in the components replaced, is also to be applied if an indirect patent infringement is claimed.

• c) Whether the technical effects of the invention are reflected precisely in the components replaced is as a rule only decisive if the replacement is usually to be expected during the working life of the protected products. In this respect, the decisive question is whether trade opinion regards the replacement as a usual maintenance measure that does not call into doubt the identity of the device as a whole as a marketable commodity.