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PART 7 PROCEDURE IN LITIGATION CONCERNING SIGNS 140. Litigation Concerning Signs (1) For all actions whereby a claim arising out of one of the legal relationships regulated under this Law is asserted (litigation concerning signs), the Provincial Courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction without regard to the value in dispute. (2) The governments of the Länder shall have the power to designate by legal ordinance for the areas of several Provincial Courts one such court to be in whole or in part the competent court for litigation concerning signs, provided that such designation serves the advancement in substance or the faster conclusion of the proceedings. The governments of the Länder may transfer those powers to the Ministries of Justice of the Länder. The Länder may moreover transfer by agreement functions incumbent upon the courts of one of the Länder in whole or in part to the competent court of another Land. (3) In cases of litigations concerning signs, the parties may also be represented before the court by attorneys-at-law admitted to practice in the Provincial Court before which the action, in the absence of a designation under subsection (2), would be heard. Sentence 1 shall apply mutatis mutandis in the case of representation before the Court of Appeal. (4) Any additional costs incurred by a party through arranging to be represented, as provided in subsection (3), by an attorney-at-law not admitted to practice in the court hearing the case, shall not be refunded. (5) Of the costs arising from the collaboration of a patent attorney in litigation concerning signs, fees up to the amount of a full fee according to Section 11 of the Federal Fee Ordinance for Attorneys-at-law shall be refunded, as well as the necessary expenses of the patent attorney. 141. Venue for Claims Under this Law and Under the Law Against Unfair Competition Claims concerning the legal relationships regulated under this Law and based on the provisions of the Law Against Unfair Competition shall not be required to be asserted before the forum provided for in Section 24 of the Law Against Unfair Competition. 142. Reduction of the Value in Dispute (1) If, in civil litigation whereby a claim arising out of one of the legal relationships regulated under this Law is asserted by a law suit, a party satisfies the court that the awarding of the costs of the case against him according to the full value in dispute would considerably endanger his financial position, the court may, at his request, order that the said party's liability to pay court costs be adjusted in accordance with a portion of the value in dispute that shall be appropriate to his financial position. (2) As a result of the order under subsection (1), the favored party shall likewise be required to pay the fees of his attorney-at-law only in accordance with that portion of the value in dispute. To the extent that the costs of the case are awarded against him or to the extent to which he assumes such costs, he shall be required to refund the court fees paid by the opposing party and the fees of the latter's attorney-at-law only in accordance with that portion of the value in dispute. To the extent that the extrajudicial costs are ordered to be paid by the opposing party or are assumed by that party, the attorney-at-law of the favored party may recover his fees from the opposing party in accordance with the value in dispute applying to the latter. (3) The request under subsection (1) may be declared before and recorded at the registrar's office of the court. It shall be presented before the substance of the case is heard. Thereafter, it shall only be admissible if the presumed or fixed value in dispute is subsequently increased by the court. Before the decision is given on the request, the opposing party shall be heard.

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