Hoyng ROKH and Quinn Emanuel secure double win for Netflix against Broadcom

Bart van den Broek will likely be pleased to clear out his desk in Amsterdam’s Rembrandt Tower before Christmas as he prepares to join the Unified Patent Court. Van den Broek can look back on a long career as one of the Netherlands’ most prominent patent litigators. He now leaves on a high note.

Two days ago, his client Netflix achieved success at the District Court The Hague. JUVE Patent has learned that the judges, Edgar Brinkman, Hugo van Heemstra and Arjen Hooiveld, dismissed an infringement action brought by Broadcom (case ID: C/09/629182 / HA ZA 22-409). Broadcom had alleged infringement of its patent EP 2 575 366 and sought an injunction. The judges disagreed. Broadcom can appeal the decision.

The patent protects a video coding technology of the HEVC standard. It is at the centre of a current dispute against Netflix in the Netherlands, Germany, and the US. Broadcom claims Netflix uses the technology to encode and stream Ultra HD content.

Final loss in Germany

According to JUVE Patent information, Broadcom has lost EP 366 in Germany. Just a day before the Dutch ruling, the Federal Court of Justice rejected Broadcom’s appeal against a nullity ruling by the German Federal Patent Court (case ID: X ZR 90/24). Presiding judge Fabian Hoffmann led the panel, which also included Hermann Deichfuß, Nina Marx, and Hartmut Rensen. The judges set the value in dispute at €30 million.

Initially, things looked promising for Broadcom. In its preliminary opinion, the German Federal Patent Court found the patent-in-suit to be valid. However, in 2024, the court found the patent invalid due to lack of inventive step and lack of novelty (case ID: 2 Ni 4/22).

Netflix has thus averted pending injunction and compulsory investigation proceedings for the time being.

Penalties for Netflix

Netflix has been battling Broadcom, previously known as Avago, over multiple video-coding patents since 2018. In September 2023, Munich Regional Court heard proceedings on the merits. The court issued an injunction prohibiting Netflix from using the technology. The streaming service then implemented a workaround that, in Netflix’s opinion, no longer used the patent-in-suit.

However, Broadcom believed the streaming provider continued to infringe the patent. The patent holder therefore filed a motion with the Munich court seeking penalties for Netflix’s lack of compliance with the injunction. In December 2023, Munich Regional Court fined Netflix €7.05 million for its continuing infringement of EP 366. Netflix appealed the ruling.

Now that the Federal Court of Justice has finally revoked EP 366, this will likely also end proceedings at Munich Regional Court. Parallel proceedings concerning three other patents are still pending at Hamburg Regional Court.

Broadcom with Bird & Bird and Herbert Smith

In the Dutch proceedings, Broadcom relied on a Bird & Bird team led by Tjibbe Douma and Peter van Gemert, with associate Laurens Buijtelaar. The firm is also active for the chip manufacturer in Germany.

Alongside lawyers from Herbert Smith Freehills, Bird & Bird patent attorneys Felix Landry and Leonard Lotz represent Broadcom in the German proceedings. They led the Federal Court proceeding regarding EP 366.

Düsseldorf-based partner at Herbert Smith Florian Schmidt-Bogatzky led the infringement proceedings. A former Bird & Bird associate, he moved to EIP in 2019 and then to Herbert Smith in 2025. Broadcom remained loyal to him as a client throughout.

Hoyng ROKH and Quinn Emanuel for Netflix

Netflix has relied on Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan since the beginning of the dispute. The firm is representing the client in both infringement and nullity proceedings. In the current case over validity of EP 366, partner Marcus Grosch again led the team, which also included Katrin Gerstenberg, Felix Trumpke, and Paul Lehmann. Other lawyers are working on other Netflix cases.

A German team from Hoyng ROKH led by Klaus Haft is representing Netflix in parallel disputes against Broadcom regarding other patents at Hamburg Regional Court. However, it was a team led by Bart van den Broek that secured the recent win in the Netherlands. Partner Roeland Grijpink, counsel Robin van Kleeff, and patent attorney Andrew Lin also played important roles.

This marks the last time the Dutch Hoyng ROKH Monegier team will work in this constellation. In a few days Bart van den Broek will close the door to his office for the last time to take up his new role as a judge on the newly created 3rd panel of the UPC Court of Appeal on 1 January.