Infringment battle Seoul Viosys vs. expert Klein comes to an end

Seoul Viosys’ battle against expert Klein and expert e-Commerce has been ongoing at the UPC since October 2023. The Seoul Semiconductors subsidiary claims its two patents on LEDs EP 3 223 320 and EP 3 926 698 are infringed by the resale of Emporia smartphones with Android operating systems.

Expert e-Commerce operates an online retail platform, while expert Klein runs consumer electronics stores in Germany. The two defendants had responded to the infringement claims with counterclaims for revocation and requested the patents invalidated in relation to the claims on which Seoul Viosys had based its infringement claims.

In October 2024, the Düsseldorf local division granted Seoul Viosys an injunction based on infringement of EP 698. This prevented expert Klein and expert e-Commerce from reselling certain Emporia smartphones in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden (case ID: UPC_CFI_363/2023).

However, regarding EP 320, the Düsseldorf panel under presiding judge Ronny Thomas invalidated the patent partially and dismissed the infringement claim (case ID: UPC_CFI_483/2023). Both parties appealed the unfavourable decisions.

At the beginning of October, the Court of Appeal revoked EP 698 partially, thus overturning the first instance decision. The injunction against expert Klein thus became invalid.

Final judgments

In the proceedings over EP 320, the Luxembourg judges now also revoked this patent partially due to inadmissible extension (case IDs: UPC_CoA_762/2024 and UPC_CoA_773/2024). The infringement action thus becomes irrelevant.

The Court of Appeal panel consisted of presiding judge Rian Kalden, legally qualified judges Patricia Rombach and Ingeborg Simonsson as well as technically qualified judges Torsten Duhme and Max Wilhelm Tilmann.

Expert Klein and expert e-commerce may now resume selling the disputed Emporia smartphones. JUVE Patent is not aware of any national proceedings between the parties. Nevertheless, the dispute continues, as the opponents will still argue about the costs of the proceedings. In addition, Emporia had started a seperate revocation action against EP 698. This may now proceed regarding those claims that had not been attacked by expert Klein.

Long-standing relationship

Linklaters has worked with Seoul Semiconductors and its subsidiary Seoul Viosys for years. The German practice represented the Korean tech company in the German dispute against Epileds and Conrad Electronics. In the current UPC cases, Frankfurt-based partners Julia Schönbohm and Bolko Ehlgen led the team. Patent attorney Olaf Isfort of Schneiders & Behrendt provided technical support.

Schönbohm, Ehlgen and Isfort also advise the client in other UPC cases against Photon Wave/Laser Components as well as regarding a seperate revocation action filed by Emporia. In the cases against Photon Wave a Linklaters team from Paris is also involved.

Expert Klein relied on Dirk Jestaedt, attorney-at-law from the Düsseldorf IP boutique Krieger Mes. He consulted Bernhard Ganahl of the Munich office of patent attorney firm HGF for the technical questions.

(Co-Author: Mathieu Klos)