The Munich district court has imposed a sales and production ban on Ford. New Ford cars that have already been built could be scrapped.
Enlarge
District Court of Munich: Sales and production ban for Ford – the reason
© Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com
Wirtschaftswoche reports that a Munich district court has imposed a Germany-wide sales and production ban on the automobile manufacturer Ford ( Fosspatents provides a detailed classification of the spectacular decision ). The reason: Cellular chips are installed in Ford vehicles, for which Ford does not pay a license fee. Therefore, a total of eight patent holders have sued Ford. The patents relate to the 4G/LTE mobile communications standard.
Japanese patent exploiter IP Bridge is one of the plaintiffs and this company won a victory in the Munich district court on May 19, 2022. IP Bridge now has to deposit a security deposit of 227 million euros with the court so that the judgment can be enforced. According to Wirtschaftswoche, enforcement can be possible in one to two weeks. Unless the parties to the dispute agree. Ford can also appeal.
In the worst case, there is a risk that new vehicles will be scrapped
If the judgment of the 7th chamber under judge Dr. Matthias Zigann is actually enforced, Ford could be forced to recall vehicles from dealers and even destroy them. According to a report by Tagesschau, observers consider the latter to be unlikely.
Ford is now awaiting the written verdict.
Ford is not alone with this problem, more and more patent holders are suing car manufacturers. Because car manufacturers need mobile communications for their infotainment systems and for eCall.
