Just some info and some opinions...itr could very well be a company we were looking for licensing from took their case to this German Court to challenge validity...the two reasons for going to this type of court are listed below and the importance of this ruling on a licensing case in Germany is listed also...in short, it looks like the ruling from this court is required to be heeded to in the lower courts if an infringement claim is what is in existence there...we surely don't know the specifics, myself included , but this could be the reasoning behind the courts hearing of the validity and the end result...corrections welcome

1.At the Federal Patent Court, 56 legally qualified judges and 63 technically qualified judges serve alongside the court’s President and Vice-President (section 65 (2) of the German Patent Act). For patent proceedings, the composition of Federal Patent Court’s adjudicating bodies is regulated as follows:
The Technical Boards of Appeal, which are competent for adjudicating appeals against decisions by a patent examiner or an examining division at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, are as a rule composed of one technically qualified judge as presiding judge, two additional technically qualified judges and a legally qualified judge (section 67 (1) of the German Patent Act).
The Revocation Boards, which are competent for adjudicating actions to revoke a patent, are as a rule composed of one legally qualified judge as presiding judge, an additional legally qualified judge and three technically qualified judges (section 67 (2) of the German Patent Act)

2.If an infringement action is pending before an ordinary court at the same time that a revocation action is initiated before the Federal Patent Court, the court hearing the infringement action has the option to suspend the pending proceedings until after the Federal Patent Court has issued its decision. This is regularly the case when, after summary examination, the court hearing the infringement action considers that the revocation action has sufficient prospects of success. Thus a revocation action that is initiated as a dilatory tactic and that holds no prospects of success cannot prevent the expeditious conclusion of an infringement proceeding. If the Federal Patent Court issues a decision in a patent revocation action, all courts hearing an infringement action are bound to uphold the Federal Patent Court’s decision with respect to the validity of that patent. These two levels of jurisdiction merge in the highest instance, the Federal Court of Justice. The Civil Panel competent to hear patent cases at the Federal Court of Justice has jurisdiction over complaints against Federal Patent Court decisions and also serves as the court of appeal on points on law with respect to decisions issued by Higher Regional Courts in infringement actions.