Germany court dismisses patent claim against Apple

[JURIST] The Mannheim Regional Court [official website, in German] on Friday dismissed a complaint by patent assertion entity IPCom against Apple. The suit alleged USD $2.1 billion in damages against Apple for infringement of European patent EP1841268, which manages access to overloaded wireless communication channels. Although the European Patent Office [official website] has upheld IPCom's patent on the technology in response to numerous challenges, Apple, along with several other entities including Samsung, Microsoft and Google, allege [industry coalition open letter] that patent assertion entities (so-called "patent trolls") are presenting an increasing problem in Europe which could be exacerbated by shortcomings in the rules of procedure for the Unified Patent Court.

Apple has recently been party to a number of lawsuits regarding patent infringement. In January a federal judge in California ruled that Samsung infringed on Apple's patented word recommendation technology. Earlier that month a federal appeals court ruled that Apple did not infringe on any of Google's Motorola Mobility patents in the creation of the iPhone. In December South Korea's Soul Central District Court dismissed a claim by Samsung which sought to ban the sale of certain Apple products. In November a US jury awarded Apple $290.45 million following a re-trial on damages.