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18 May 2020PatentsSarah Morgan

Sisvel accuses Dell, TCL and Tesla of patent infringement

European IP licensor and patent pool operator Sisvel hit numerous companies including  Dell,  TCL and  Tesla with patent infringement lawsuits late last week.

In a series of suits filed at the US District Court for the District of Delaware, Sisvel accused the companies of infringing patents related to 3G and 4G technology.

According to Sisvel’s  suit, Tesla’s Model S, Model 3, and Model X infringe nine patents, each of which relate to technology for cellular communications networks.

The patents at issue in the Tesla suit were formerly owned by companies including Nokia, Blackberry and LG Electronics. And, according to Sisvel, the patents are essential to cellular standards including 3G and 4G.

Sisvel allegedly sent letters to Tesla, offering to license the patents but “despite Sisvel’s continuous efforts and numerous demonstrations of infringement over approximately two years, Tesla refused to take a licence to the offered patents”.

Meanwhile, in the Dell  suit, the technology company is accused of infringing nine patents through the sale of its Latitude and Precision computer and laptop lines, and its mobile broadband wireless cellular modem.

Sisvel has allegedly spent nearly six years trying to get Dell to take a licence to the patents and demonstrating infringement.

At the same time, Sisvel  accused Chinese company TCL of infringing patents through the sale of Alcatel mobile handsets. The Alcatel brand, which is owned by Nokia, is used under licence by TCL.

In the suits, the European licensor is seeking a finding of infringement and damages.

David Muus, programme manager of Sisvel’s mobile communication programme, said that the company coordinated the timing of the filings to make it convenient for the courts to group cases on the same schedule and handle them efficiently.

“This is part of a continued effort of Sisvel to license patents that are believed to be essential to cellular standards … as well as to discourage hold-out behaviour. We believe litigation should be a last resort in the licensing process, however when confronted with ‘efficient infringement’ strategies we sometimes find ourselves with little other option than to stand by our rights,” he added.

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More on this story

Patents
7 May 2020   Sisvel is claiming victory over Haier after a final German Federal Court of Justice ruling, which the patent pool operator said is a win for standard-essential patent (SEP) owners against “efficient infringement” strategies.
Patents
5 August 2020   Juries are capable of determining whether a patent is essential to a technological standard, the Federal Circuit has ruled.
Patents
27 April 2021   Sisvel and Mitsubishi have suffered a loss in their infringement suit against several Chinese mobile phone manufacturers, as the English High Court ruled that a standard-essential patent is not integral to 4G telecom standards.