Tech companies are getting sued for patent infringement regularly, but this recent case of patent litigation might mean serious trouble for HTC, at least in Germany. Munich-based IPCom, which is not your usual insignificant patent troll, says the Taiwanese company is infringing its patents (IPCom doesn’t have a website).
According to media reports, a German court decided that HTC is using mobile phone technoloy that infringes patents owned by IPCom. The details are unclear but both the HTC Magic and the T-Mobile G1 use that technology.
IPCom says it will stop HTC from selling the handsets in Germany by enforcing the court’s judgment unless HTC agrees to start negotiations. HTC officially claims the decision doesn’t have any short-term effects on the company but acknowledges it might influence its business in Germany in one way or the other.
IPCom has experience in dealing with tech giants. In February last year, the company sued Nokia in Germany for $15.2 billion. The allegations are similar (mobile technology patent infringement) but in that case, no decision has been made yet.