Düsseldorf local division hears Dolby vs Beko

Dolby, represented by Bardehle Pagenberg, is a frequent user of the Unified Patent Court. Since 2023, the company has filed nine infringement suits and one PI application for audio and video coding SEPs with the UPC. Defendants include Acer, Asus, Hisense, HP, Roku, Epson, and Optoma. Some implementers, such as Optoma and Epson, have since settled.

Today, the local division Düsseldorf will hear Dolby’s infringement action against Beko and Arçelik. The Turkish electronics manufacturer and its German subsidiary are accused of infringing Dolby’s EP 3 605 534. The patent protects an audio decoding technology with selective post-filtering.

Dolby’s lawsuit targets all televisions and other electronic devices from Beko and Arçelik that use Android TV version 5.0 or newer.

Combined proceedings

Beko and Arçelik have responded with a counterclaim for revocation. The division under presiding judge Ronny Thomas will hear both proceedings together (case ID: UPC_CFI_135/2024). The panel also includes judge rapporteur Jule Schumacher and Dutch judge Margot Kokke. Udo Matter will serve as technically qualified judge.

The case dates back to the early days of the UPC. Dolby filed it in April 2024. The written phase was completed in early 2025. An oral hearing was originally scheduled for October 2025, but was then postponed to today.

FRAND first

Due to the combined proceedings, the technical aspects of the patent’s validity will play an important part in today’s hearing. But the court will begin with the FRAND issue.

EP 534 is licensed via the audio coding pool Vectis IP and it is standard essential. However, its developer and owner, Dolby, did not participate in the development of the Opus audio compression standard. Dolby has therefore not issued a FRAND declaration as in other SEP proceedings. Nevertheless, the SEP owner will probably be bound by antitrust obligations.

Accordingly, the two implementers have invoked a FRAND objection. Their lawyers from Meissner Bolte will need to demonstrate to the judges why Dolby has acted in breach of antitrust law with the lawsuit and its licence offer.

For the Düsseldorf judges, this is the first FRAND case in a long time. Most recently, the Mannheim and Munich patent courts attracted attention with FRAND decisions.

JUVE Patent is not aware of any parallel proceedings before German national courts. But according to sources, Dolby filed a second infringement case against Beko and Arçelik with the UPC in December. The case is not yet public in the UPC case search.

Beko and Arçelik are also facing a third UPC case filed by BSH Hausgeräte. However, this case concerns a household appliance.

Bardehle faces Meissner Bolte

The opposing law firms in today’s case traditionally pursue a mixed approach with lawyers and patent attorneys. Accordingly, Bardehle Pagenberg and Meissner Bolte are fielding mixed teams.

A Bardehle team from Hamburg and Munich represents Dolby. Hamburg lawyers Volkmar Henke and Tilman Müller are leading the case. They are also responsible for Dolby’s other actions before the UPC. Associate Ann-Christine Hug provides support.

Patent attorneys Tobias Kaufmann and Julian Renner will take centre stage when the court discusses the validity of the patent-in-suit.

Meissner Bolte partners Jasper Werhahn, Tilmann Pfrang, and Joachim Gerstein once again represent Beko and Arçelik. All three are patent attorneys. Lawyer Andreas Kabisch completes the team leading the case. Lawyer Niels Schuh will also be present.