No luck for Broadcom as Netflix and Quinn Emanuel succeed in another nullity claim

Netflix has been battling Broadcom, previously known as Avago, over multiple video coding patents since 2018. In total, the extensive campaign comprises eight patents, of which seven have now finally been revoked.

The current case centres on EP 2 723 094. The patent owned by Avago covers a “set top box architecture with application based security definitions” and relates to the processing of media data in connection with video reception, among other things.

In March 2024, the Federal Patent Court revoked EP 094 for lack of inventive step. The Federal Court of Justice has now dismissed Avago’s appeal against the first-instance judgment (case ID: X ZR 69/24). This means the German part of the patent is null and void. The infringement action that has been pending at Hamburg Regional Court since October 2021 and is currently suspended is now obsolete.

No success in The Hague

It is the latest in a series of Broadcom patents on this technology that the Federal Court of Justice has not upheld.

The court also revoked the German part of EP 2 575 366 at second instance at the end of 2025 (case ID X ZR 90/24). Initially, things had looked promising for Broadcom in this case. In its preliminary opinion, the German Federal Patent Court found the patent-in-suit to be valid. However, in 2024, the court ruled the patent to be invalid due to lack of inventive step and lack of novelty. Broadcom appealed, but to no avail.

In parallel infringement proceedings over EP 366, Munich Regional Court issued an injunction in 2023, 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 ends proceedings at Munich Regional Court.

Last December the District Court The Hague dismissed an infringement action brought by Broadcom over EP 366 (case ID: C/09/629182 / HA ZA 22-409).

And then there was one

Other patents-in-suit suffered the same fate at the Federal Court of Justice. EP 1 414 015 and EP 1 809 029 were declared invalid in both instances (case IDs: X ZR 101/21 and X ZR 63/22). In both cases, Mannheim Regional Court had dismissed a parallel infringement claim and the appeal in Karlsruhe was withdrawn after revocation of the patent.

In the dispute over EP 1 404 085, Mannheim Regional Court suspended the infringement proceedings, which were also withdrawn after revocation of the patent by the Federal Court of Justice in April 2023 (case ID: X ZR 29/21). Another action against EP 1 793 570 was also withdrawn after the EPO Boards of Appeal revoked the patent in February 2023 (case ID: T 1081/20 – 3.5.03). Another patent EP 054 was revoked in the first instance. Since no appeal was lodged, the infringement claim at Hamburg Regional Court was also withdrawn.

Now only one action remains pending. The appeal in the nullity case over EP 764 will be heard in April by the Federal Court of Justice (case ID: X ZR 26/25). Meanwhile a parallel infringement claim has been suspended at Hamburg Regional Court.

Quinn Emanuel on all fronts

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has represented Netflix from the start in all proceedings. The team around litigator Marcus Grosch led the defence in the infringement actions at the German courts and also acted as lead adviser in the nullity suits in Germany, as well as in the EPO opposition in the case of EP 570.

In covering infringement as well as validity disputes, the patent practice of the US firm stands out from competitors since patent attorneys generally act in nullity suits or EPO oppositions.

Various lawyers from Quinn Emanuel were involved in the different patent proceedings. Besides lead partner Marcus Grosch the team included partners Katrin Gerstenberg, Jesko Preuß, Andreas Duensing, and Andreas Hahne. Furthermore counsel Felix Trumpke, Tonio Allendorf, and Tina Liebscher as well as associates Paul Lehmann, Felix Hartisch, Anahita Mousavi, and Stefan Fuchs worked on the different cases with the partners. Quinn Emanuel also represents Netflix in the UPC proceedings against DiVx.

Bird & Bird patent attorneys Felix Landry and Leonard Lotz acted for Broadcom in the German nullity proceedings and in the EPO opposition. They were also involved in the parallel infringement proceedings, where they worked with litigator Florian Schmidt-Bogatzky from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer’s Düsseldorf patent practice. A former Bird & Bird associate, the lawyer moved to EIP in 2019 and then to Herbert Smith a year ago. Broadcom remained loyal to him as a client throughout.

A German team from Hoyng ROKH Monegier led by Klaus Haft is representing Netflix in the parallel disputes against Broadcom regarding EP 054 and EP 764, of which only the latter is still pending.