Under the German Patent Act,a physician can be liable for patent infringement if he or she prescribes the drug for off-label use, as physicians are not exempted from Article 139 of the German Patent Law. So, should, as in the cases described above, a physician prescribe the generic drug for the patent protected second medical use, he himself could be liable for direct patent infringement. To date, however, there have been no such cases in Germany where the patentee sought to act against a physician or pharmacist for handing out the generic drug.