Earlier this month it was reported that Apple was getting sued for over $2 billion by known patent troll IPCom. The german company alleged that the iPad-maker violated one of its patents pertaining to priority access to channels for emergency responder.
But it doesn’t look like the suit will ever make it to trial. FOSS Patents is reporting that in a string of rulings handed down by the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany today, two of IPCom’s suits against Apple and one against HTC have been dismissed…
Here’s more from FOSS Patents:
“Two lawsuits against Apple, including one involving a €1.57 billion ($2.2 billion) “partial” damages claim, and one against HTC (a company IPCom has been suing for about six years) were dismissed because the court concluded that Apple and HTC didn’t infringe a certain IPCom patent family by implementing the 3G/UMTS standard. It’s a given that IPCom will appeal, but Apple, HTC, Nokia (or soon Microsoft, which is in the process of buying Nokia’s wireless devices business), Ericsson, Vodafone and others will likely continue to challenge the validity of the related patents in different fora. This will go on for some more time, unless someone settles, which Deutsche Telekom did last year but others appear to be less interested in.”
Today’s rulings are a major setback for IPCom, which makes its money by purchasing patents from other companies and then using it to extort money from tech firms either via licensing or litigation. It purchased this particular family of patents from Bosch.
Of course, IPCom will appeal today’s decisions, as they will likely have a huge impact on its business. While Deutsche Telekom settled for licensing these patents, Apple, Nokia, HTC, and others will continue to fight. And they’ll be unlikely to stop after today’s win.