Does that mean the Home Court, hearing the infringement case, will now also decide whether the patent is valid?

No, and that is a very important point.

The European Court of Justice confirmed that questions about the validity of a European patent should still be decided by the national courts of the country for which the patent was granted, as provided for in Article 24.4 of the Brussels 1A Regulation.

What is new is that the infringement case does not automatically fall apart because of a validity challenge.

The home court can keep control of the overall case.

So how does it work in practice? The European Court of Justice gives the home court some flexibility.

For patents from member states of the European Union, the Home Court does not automatically lose its power if the defendant says the patent is invalid.

Why are those cases attracting so much attention now?