German court rejects $2-bn patent infringement suit against Apple
01 Mar 2014
A German court yesterday rejected a $2-billion patent infringement suit filed against Apple Inc by German patent-holding company IPCom GmbH for allegedly infringing on its 100A patent.
The 100A patent is a technology used to manage priority emergency access when mobile networks are overloaded.
The German court also dismissed a similar lawsuit filed by IPCom against Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp.
The court did not disclose the grounds for rejecting IPCom's suit, but a German Court had earlier this month narrowed down the scope of the patent granted by the European Patent Office.
Munich-based IPCom had acquired the ''100A'' series patents from German car-parts maker Robert Bosch GmbH, which held these patents as part of its R&D for its pioneering car telephony systems. Bosch exited the business in 2000, and sold the patents to IPCom in early 2007.
IPCom is a patent holding firm that some call a "patent troll" - a company that buys patents with the sole intention of not using it, but to make money through license fees, royalties and enforcing patents through litigation.
IPCom, backed by Fortress Investment Group, holds 1,165 patents that were bought mainly from Hitachi and Bosch. These patents are in the field of mobile communications and are registered in Europe, the US and Asia.
