Ford in patent dispute before sales ban – do new cars have to be scrapped?

Created: 2022-05-22Updated: 2022-05-22 07:04

By: Marcus Efler

Ford may have to stop producing and selling cars in Germany - according to the ruling in a patent lawsuit.

And it could get a lot worse.

Munich – So far, this type of court judgment has been known mainly from devices such as smartphones: If there is technology or software in it that allegedly uses patents of the competition without authorization, they can no longer be sold.

A few years ago, Apple had to stop selling two iPhone models in Germany – just before Christmas of all days.

At the time, a judge at the district court in Munich ordered it – the same one who was now dealing with an alleged patent infringement by Ford.

Eight patent holders had sued the car company because, according to them, it had installed a mobile radio chip without paying the license fees due.

Ford in patent dispute before sales ban – do new cars have to be scrapped?

And the judge did it again: According to a report by the "Wirtschaftswoche", Ford must stop selling all cars throughout Germany, according to his verdict, as well as the production of new cars.

And that in one to two weeks - if the car manufacturer does not come to an agreement with the Japanese patent exploiter IP Bridge, who prevailed with his lawsuit.

Not even vehicles that have already been produced and delivered to dealers would be safe from the verdict: they might have to be recalled and scrapped.

However, IP Bridge is said to have to deposit a security deposit of 227 million euros.

This would compensate the car manufacturer for the damage caused if a higher authority were to collect the drastic measures again.

The matter is therefore not entirely without risk for the plaintiffs.

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Should Ford stop selling cars?

(Icon image) © Indranil Aditya/Imago

Ford in patent dispute before sales ban - or the group pays fees

Their goal is not to ruin Ford in Germany, but to get them to pay license fees - as Mercedes-Benz (formerly Daimler) and Volkswagen have already done in so-called "connected car processes".

In order to reduce the pressure on manufacturers of cars and other products that use computer chips (if these are available at all), the German patent law, which is considered to be particularly strict, was actually reformed.

In the current verdict against Ford, however, this apparently did not play a role.