Due to a lack of patents, the Munich district court has imposed a Germany-wide sales and production ban on the car manufacturer Ford. Cars that are at dealers are also threatened with destruction.
Fierce verdict for the car manufacturer Ford: The district court in Munich has imposed a Germany-wide sales and production ban on the US car manufacturer. This is reported by the “Wirtschaftswoche”.
Reason for the verdict: Missing licenses. According to the court’s conviction, mobile radio chips are built into Ford’s cars, for which the company does not pay any license fees.
Specifically, it is about the e-call system, which has been mandatory in all new cars in the EU since 2018. In order to be able to operate this emergency call function, mobile radio chips are required in the cars. However, these are also increasingly taking on entertainment and navigation functions.
In Munich, the lawsuit was filed by a total of eight holders of mobile phone patents. The national Japanese patent exploiter IP Bridge prevailed as plaintiff before the regional court.
According to “Wirtschaftswoche”, IP Bridge must now deposit a security deposit of 227 million euros with the court so that the judgment is enforced. If Ford and IP Bridge do not reach an agreement, the judgment could be enforced in one to two weeks – Ford would then no longer be allowed to sell cars in Germany. What’s more, the verdict even provides for the recall of all cars from dealers and their destruction.
Ford was the seventh largest manufacturer in Germany with around 126,400 cars sold in 2021. The judgment of the district court is still appealable.
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