Tesla on road to success against Broadcom/Avago

Broadcom/Avago's litigation campaign against e-car company Tesla spans many technological fields, from charging infrastructure to the chips used. In its first judgment, the Hamburg local division has ruled in Tesla's favour, in line with previous judgments from German national courts. The Munich local division will hand down a decision on Friday.

In the dispute over EP 1 612 910, the UPC’s local division Hamburg upheld the patent-in suit to a limited extent (case ID: UPC_CFI_54/2023, ACT_463258/2023). The judges Sabine Klepsch (chair), Stefan Schilling, Walter Schober and Hergen Kapels (technical judge) ruled that the patent was not infringed to this degree.

The patent protects a control technology for computer chips. In this case, the chips come from AMD and control the power supply of other chips installed in a Tesla vehicle. This ruling is another positive decision for the e-car company against the series of lawsuits filed by Broadcom/Avago.

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In addition, nullity and infringement actions concerning four patents are pending at the Regional Court Munich (EP 1 7014 83, EP 3 562 124, EP 2 582 116, EP 1 612 649) and concerning two more patents at the Regional Court Mannheim (EP 2 348 601 and EP 1 612 908). The courts have already suspended some of the proceedings and dismissed others.

The patents in the Munich proceedings relate to the integration of Bluetooth and social media, as well as energy efficiency in these applications. The Mannheim proceedings concern patents covering intelligent power supplies and integrated circuits.

Meanwhile, the UPC’s Munich local division will hand down a ruling in parallel proceedings on Friday 30 August. The patents-in-suit, EP 1 838 002 and EP 1 770 912, also relate to techniques for integrating and controlling chips.