Nokia lands first blow against Amazon at Munich Regional Court

Amazon is not permitted to sell its streaming devices in Germany. This includes 13 Fire Sticks from Amazon of different generations. Munich Regional Court under presiding judge Oliver Schön ruled yesterday that Amazon infringed Nokia’s EP 2 375 749. The patent protects a system and method for efficient scalable stream adaptation.

In addition, the judges did not accept the US company’s FRAND defence. Amazon must pay damages and provide Nokia with information regarding its revenue from the products in question.

Speedy ruling

The 7th Civil Chamber of the Regional Court issued its ruling against Amazon unusually quickly for an SEP case. So-called chair judgments, i.e. judgments directly following an oral hearing, are rare in German patent proceedings.

Amazon can still appeal and this is likely, given the severity of the decision. However, Nokia needs to first enforce the judgment for it to take effect.

Arvin Patel, Nokia’s Chief Licensing Officer New Segments commented, “The Munich Regional Court in Germany has ruled that Amazon is using Nokia’s patented video-related technologies in its end user streaming devices and is selling them illegally without a licence. The Court also found that Nokia has acted fairly in its negotiations with Amazon. We hope that Amazon accepts its obligations and agrees a licence on fair terms.”

Nokia and Amazon face off

The current ruling is part of a larger series of claims against Amazon. In November 2023, Nokia filed lawsuits against Amazon for the unauthorised use of Nokia’s video-related technologies in its services and devices. The Nokia patents concern technologies for video compression, content delivery, content recommendation and aspects relating to hardware.

In particular, the Amazon Prime Video service and Amazon’s streaming devices are the focus of the lawsuits. In addition to courts in the US and India, Nokia has filed lawsuits in Germany, the UK, and with the UPC.

At the latter, the Finnish company filed its first lawsuit at the court with the Munich local division (case ID: ACT_584119/2023). Nokia has also sued Amazon at the UK High Court on the basis of three patents. In Germany, Amazon is facing one lawsuit at Mannheim Regional Court, and two lawsuits each at the regional courts in Düsseldorf and Munich.

Amazon responded with revocation actions at the German Federal Patent Court regarding EP 740. The court has neither set a date for the oral hearing, nor it has published a preliminary opinion on the patent’s validity. The next hearings at German courts will take place in November, December and February, with a UPC ruling expected in 2025.

Separately, Nokia has also filed suits against HP for the unauthorised use of its patented multimedia technologies. This also includes a lawsuit at the UPC. In November 2024, the Regional Court Munich will hear a lawsuit filed by Nokia against HP over EP 749.

Nokia with a new approach

In the German proceedings and at the UPC’s Munich local division, Nokia relies on an Arnold Ruess team led by name partner Bernhard Arnold, as well as IP firm Cohausz & Florack. The latter firm deployed a patent attorney team led by Christoph Walke. Further lawyers from Arnold Ruess are partners Cordula Schumacher and Arno Riße, counsel Tim Smentkowski, as well as associates Chanisar Bangkomnet, Anja Penners and Sophia Zeng. Patent attorney Fabian Vogelbruch was also present in the court room.

In the Munich proceedings, Nokia was present with a large team led by Clemens Heusch, Huw Edwards and Armin Schwitulla. While Nokia essentially relies on a proven team in the German proceedings, the company commissioned EIP for the UK proceedings for the first time. The company has thus expanded its extensive list of advisors.

Nokia employs a large number of patent firms in Europe. Bird & Bird has supported the Finnish company in numerous campaigns for many years and across several countries. In France, Nokia relies on Allen & Overy, while in London, Allen & Overy and Taylor Wessing have previously advised the company.

Amazon with Hogan Lovells

As usual, Amazon retained a German Hogan Lovells team for the German proceedings, led by Munich partners Benjamin Schröer, Steffen Steininger and Andreas Schmid. The latter is a patent attorney.

The team also included Daniel Kaneko, Teresa Sedelmaier, Markus Wypchol, Katharina Bickel, and patent attorney Niels Gierse. In Germany, Amazon also works with DLA Piper.