A few months after the successful settlement with VW, Audi and Porsche, chip manufacturer Broadcom has filed the next lawsuit against two German automobile manufacturers over patents for connected cars. As JUVE Patent learned from Mannheim court circles, Broadcom has sued BMW for infringement of two patents. Daimler is facing a lawsuit at the Regional Court Mannheim.
20 March 2019 by Mathieu Klos
Broadcom apparently filed the lawsuit at the Mannheim Court in January. At JUVE’s request, Daimler confirmed that there is a pending lawsuit against the company (case ID: 7 O 16/19). The carmaker considers the claim against it to be unfounded.
Sources also confirmed two lawsuits against BMW (case ID: 7 O 10/19 and 7 O 14/19). The Munich company has not yet commented on the lawsuits.
The lawsuits come as no surprise, however, as Broadcom only reached a favourable settlement against the Wolfsburger Company at the beginning of November. It was expected that the chip manufacturer would prosecute other car manufacturers. So far, only complaints in Germany are known.
Bernd Allekotte
Broadcom has been unsuccessful in court against VW, Audi and Porsche. Nevertheless, the market is certain that VW, Audi and Porsche made substantial payments to the chip manufacturer.
At the last count, 18 related disputes were pending in Mannheim. The seven patents in question concern chips for wireless communication in cars, for example with end devices via Bluetooth and wifi. The patents were filed partly by Broadcom and partly by Avago, with both companies operating under the Broadcom umbrella since 2015. None of the patents are standard essential.
Numerous co-litigants also joined the dispute, including supplier Harman Becker Automotive Systems and Continental subsidiary Conti Temic.
Broadcom filed a motion against VW, Audi and Porsche for injunctive relief, damages and rendering of account. Whether this is the case in suits against Daimler and BMW is unclear.
It is likely that Broadcom has also sued the two luxury car manufacturers over these patents. It is not known whether both will hold their suppliers accountable, although it is also considered likely.
Marcus Grosch
None of the following patent firms have confirmed their involvement in the cases. But according to JUVE Patent market information, Munich-based firm Grünecker advises Broadcom as it did in disputes against VW, Audi and Porsche.
It has been some time since BMW had a major patent dispute in a German courtroom. The epic battle over adjustable exterior car mirrors ended around ten years ago for the car company and advisors Bardehle. Now, Bardehle is back on the side of BMW against Broadcom.
Daimler almost never appears in court cases regarding patents. According to market information, for the first time in a patent case the Stuttgart-based company is being represented by Quinn Emanuel. However, the German branch of the US law firm represents the carmaker in several antitrust claims against suppliers.
Tilman Müller-Stoy
For Broadcom/Avago
Grünecker (Munich): Bernd Allekotte
For Daimler
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan (Munich, Mannheim): Marcus Grosch
For BMW
Bardehle Pagenberg (Munich): Tilman Müller-Stoy
Regional Court Mannheim, 7th Civil Chamber
Peter Tochtermann (presiding judge)
We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others help us to improve this website and your experience.
Here you will find an overview of all cookies used. You can give your consent to whole categories or display further information and select certain cookies.
Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.
Name | |
---|---|
Provider | Owner of this website |
Purpose | Saves the visitors preferences selected in the Cookie Box of Borlabs Cookie. |
Cookie Name | borlabs-cookie |
Cookie Expiry | 1 Year |
Name | |
---|---|
Provider | Google LLC |
Purpose | Cookie by Google used to control advanced script and event handling. |
Privacy Policy | https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en |
Cookie Name | _ga,_gat,_gid |
Cookie Expiry | 1 Year |
Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us to understand how our visitors use our website.
Accept | |
---|---|
Name | |
Provider | Google LLC |
Purpose | Cookie by Google used for website analytics. Generates statistical data on how the visitor uses the website. |
Privacy Policy | https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en |
Cookie Name | _ga,_gat,_gid |
Cookie Expiry | 1 Year |
Marketing cookies are used by third-party advertisers or publishers to display personalized ads. They do this by tracking visitors across websites.
Accept | |
---|---|
Name | |
Provider | Hotjar Ltd. |
Purpose | Hotjar is an user behavior analytic tool by Hotjar Ltd.. We use Hotjar to understand how users interact with our website. |
Privacy Policy | https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy/ |
Host(s) | *.hotjar.com |
Cookie Name | _hjClosedSurveyInvites, _hjDonePolls, _hjMinimizedPolls, _hjDoneTestersWidgets, _hjIncludedInSample, _hjShownFeedbackMessage, _hjid, _hjRecordingLastActivity, hjTLDTest, _hjUserAttributesHash, _hjCachedUserAttributes, _hjLocalStorageTest, _hjptid |
Cookie Expiry | Session / 1 Year |
Content from video platforms and social media platforms is blocked by default. If External Media cookies are accepted, access to those contents no longer requires manual consent.
Accept | |
---|---|
Name | |
Provider | |
Purpose | Used to unblock Facebook content. |
Privacy Policy | https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation |
Host(s) | .facebook.com |
Accept | |
---|---|
Name | |
Provider | |
Purpose | Used to unblock Google Maps content. |
Privacy Policy | https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en&gl=en |
Host(s) | .google.com |
Cookie Name | NID |
Cookie Expiry | 6 Month |
Accept | |
---|---|
Name | |
Provider | |
Purpose | Used to unblock Instagram content. |
Privacy Policy | https://www.instagram.com/legal/privacy/ |
Host(s) | .instagram.com |
Cookie Name | pigeon_state |
Cookie Expiry | Session |
Accept | |
---|---|
Name | |
Provider | OpenStreetMap Foundation |
Purpose | Used to unblock OpenStreetMap content. |
Privacy Policy | https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_Policy |
Host(s) | .openstreetmap.org |
Cookie Name | _osm_location, _osm_session, _osm_totp_token, _osm_welcome, _pk_id., _pk_ref., _pk_ses., qos_token |
Cookie Expiry | 1-10 Years |
Accept | |
---|---|
Name | |
Provider | |
Purpose | Used to unblock Twitter content. |
Privacy Policy | https://twitter.com/privacy |
Host(s) | .twimg.com, .twitter.com |
Cookie Name | __widgetsettings, local_storage_support_test |
Cookie Expiry | Unlimited |
Accept | |
---|---|
Name | |
Provider | Vimeo |
Purpose | Used to unblock Vimeo content. |
Privacy Policy | https://vimeo.com/privacy |
Host(s) | player.vimeo.com |
Cookie Name | vuid |
Cookie Expiry | 2 Years |
Accept | |
---|---|
Name | |
Provider | YouTube |
Purpose | Used to unblock YouTube content. |
Privacy Policy | https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en&gl=en |
Host(s) | google.com |
Cookie Name | NID |
Cookie Expiry | 6 Month |