“Apple Inc. is facing a claim for about $2 billion in damages from a German patent-holding firm that alleges the U.S. technology giant infringed on a cellphone technology it owns, a German court said Wednesday,” Friedrich Geiger reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“IPCom GmbH accuses Apple of improperly using patented technology that gives emergency calls priority on mobile networks,” Geiger reports. “A spokesman for IPCom, which is backed by U.S. fund manager Fortress Investments Group LLC, said the company’s demand for more than €1.57 billion ($2.12 billion) covers only Apple’s alleged infringement relating to devices sold in Germany. He declined to comment on whether IPCom would file similar suits in other countries.”
“IPCom’s lawsuit comes after the European Patent Office last month rejected requests from Apple, Nokia Corp., HTC Corp., Vodafone Group PLC and Ericsson to declare the patent invalid. IPCom said it is suing other companies for alleged infringement of the patent beside Apple, including Nokia,” Geiger reports. “Companies like IPCom, which critics derisively call patent trolls, make money by buying patents and then claiming royalties on them. IPCom bought the patent in question in 2007 from Robert Bosch GmbH, a German automotive-parts company that was a pioneer in car phones but left the business at the dawn of hand-held devices.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: FRAND abuse.
Related article:
Apple faces €1.57 billion patent damages claim in Germany – February 5, 2014