Patent owners or other intellectual property right holders often find themselves in a difficult situation when they have to prove a case of infringement without having direct access to the object which is suspected to be infringing. This may, for example, be the case if only a few machines or apparatus have been manufactured, and if there is no possibility for the patent proprietor to analyze or inspect the machine without consent of the manufacturer or current owner. This is particularly troublesome for patent owners in Germany since there are no procedural rules by which a potential infringer could be forced to disclose relevant information with regard to the alleged infringement.
