Sisvel sues Ford over cellular SEPs
Patent pool operator Sisvel has sued Ford, alleging that the carmaker’s SYNC Connect, FordPass SmartLink and FordPass Connect products infringe on four of its cellular network standards.
Sisvel filed a complaint with the US District Court for the District of Delaware on Monday, December 13, alleging that Ford had “refused” to take a licence to its cellular patents despite “numerous” demonstrations that the products infringed its standard-essential patents (SEPs).
The five patents were obtained by Sisvel after having been previously assigned to Nokia, Blackberry and LG.
According to the complaint, Sisvel first offered Ford a licence for its standard-essential patents related to 3G technology in January 2016.
Correspondence continued between the two through October 2018, when Sisvel offered to license its patents again, this time including its 4G standards.
Sisvel alleges that it had discussed with Ford that its FordPass Smartlink and FordPass Connect products infringed the five patents back in 2019.
Ford refused to take a license agreement to the Sisvel patents, despite attempts to enter a license agreement and “numerous” demonstrations of infringement by Ford, Sisvel claims.
Sisvel is now seeking demand for a trial by jury on all five counts of patent infringement as well as compensatory damages.
This lawsuit marks the third lawsuit against Ford from a member of the Avanci patent pool. L2 Mobile Technologies has sued Ford in the same Delaware court and IP Bridge is also embroiled in an SEP dispute against the carmaker in Munich.
Standard business
Sisvel is one of the most prolific companies SEP space, enjoying several high profile successes in standards litigation over the past few years.
In July, the company signed a licensing deal with Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, bringing about the end of an ongoing international patent dispute which had been before courts in five countries.
The deal saw Xiaomi licence more than 1,800 patents covering different cellular standards.
Prior to this, Sisvel claimed a “landmark” victory in Germany’s highest court over Chinese appliance maker Haier in 2020, bringing an end to a six-year suit.
Earlier this year, Roberto Dini, senior consultant at Sisvel, wrote for WIPR about “hold-out” tactics employed by implementers in order to avoid taking a licence to SEPs, citing Sisvel v Haier as a prime example.
Consulting the public
As the number of SEP disputes in the chip, mobile and automotive industry grows, both the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the UK Intellectual Property Office have launched public consultations on SEPs.
The DOJ issued a draft policy on new SEP guidelines on December 6 with the goal of promoting “good faith licensing negotiations”.
The US government is seeking input on 11 core questions, including whether the draft policy addresses “competition concerns” and whether the possibility of injunctive relief has been a significant factor in SEP negotiations.
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