In December 2004, Ferag launched a bid to sue Muller Martini, claiming the company's NewsTrim fan trimmer infringed its "Method and device for trimming printed products" patent.

Muller Martini denied this and made a counterclaim to revoke the patent, which Ferag then applied to amend.

After a five-day hearing at the High Court last month, Mr Justice Lewison ruled in favour of Muller Martini on both counts: the company had not infringed the patent; and Ferag's patent in both its current and amended forms were invalid.

In the 22 February ruling, Ferag was ordered to pay 90% of Muller Martini's costs, which are expected to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. The company was given until 22 March to appeal, otherwise the patents would be revoked.

As PrintWeek went to press, no notice of appeal had yet been lodged.

Ferag has also filed proceedings over the same patent in Germany and Switzerland.

"The fact that the patent has been found to be invalid in England will no doubt not go unnoticed in the other jurisdictions," said Philip Westmacott of Bristows, acting on behalf of Muller Martini.

Ferag was unavailable for comment as PrintWeek went to press.