IPCom

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IPCom GmbH & Co. KG[1] is a German intellectual property rights licensing and technology R&D company.[2] Its R&D team actively contributes to communication standard setting bodies, focusing on 3GPP, while managing IPCom's global patent portfolio.[3] IPCom has been described as a patent troll[4][5][6] for its litigation practices.

IPCom holds over 200 patent families in the field of mobile communications, with more than 1,000 patents registered in Europe, the US and Asia, most of which have been granted. IPCom has negotiated and closed a number of significant license contracts and settlement agreements with high-profile, global companies in the mobile and telecoms space. These include a case pending with the German Supreme Court, against Nokia and HTC, whom IPCom claims have infringed its mobile telecoms European Patent (EP 1 841 268) (the 100A).[7]

IPCom also offers consulting services to companies in the telecoms space.[8]

IPCom is headquartered in Pullach, Munich, Germany.[9]

History[]

In 2007, IPCom acquired a portfolio of mobile technology patents from Robert Bosch GmbH.[10] This comprises more than 160 patent families in 2G, 2.5G, 3G and LTE technologies, 30 of which are SEPs covering the USA, Europe and Asia. Technologies covered in the portfolio span areas including interface, MMS and digital rights management, applications, synchronization and packet data transmission. [11]

Backed by Fortress Investment Group, IPCom sued Nokia for patent infringement for $18 billion in 2008.[12] Many of IPCom's patents have been invalidated by the courts and millions of dollars have been incurred in legal costs.[13]

In acquiring the Bosch patent portfolio, IPCom also acquired telecoms European Patent (EP 1 841 268) (the 100A), which in January 2018 was found by England’s Court of Appeal to be standard-essential and mandatory to the UMTS standard. 100A relates to controlling how UMTS mobile phones gain initial access to a network. Since then, IPCom has welcomed requests from handset manufacturers, service providers, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to obtain FRAND license agreements. [14]

Through ongoing R&D activity, IPCom has also developed its own global patent portfolio, with numerous applications currently pending. [15]

References[]

  1. ^ "GmbH" means "Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung" (English: company with limited liability); "KG" means "Kommanditgesellschaft"; see also GmbH & Co. KG.
  2. ^ FRAND determination stay agreed for IPCom v Nokia trial Ashurst blog, Shreedevi Chatterjee
  3. ^ 3GPP written contributions at meeting 9th-13th September 2017 3GPP
  4. ^ "German court dismisses $2 billion patent troll claim against Apple". The Verge.
  5. ^ "Le "patent troll" IPCom réclame 1,5 milliard de dollars à Apple". ZDNet.
  6. ^ "Patent trolls: a view from Europe". Lexology.
  7. ^ Nokia wins patent victory over IPCom Financial Times, Maija Palmer
  8. ^ We will monetise our IP no matter how much it costs, says IPCom managing director Vanilla Plus, George Malim
  9. ^ Company Overview of Ipcom Gmbh & Co. Kg Bloomberg
  10. ^ IPCom confident of winning case against Nokia, HTC Times of Oman
  11. ^ Steitz, Christoph; Virki, Tarmo (22 December 2011). "Patent firm sues German retailers over HTC phones". Reuters. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  12. ^ "Fortress-backed company sues Nokia over patents". Reuters. 30 January 2008.
  13. ^ Jan Wolfe. "Freshfields, Hogan Lovells Knock Out IPCom's Patent Claims". law.com.
  14. ^ Nokia loses UK patent appeal against IPComComputer World, Mikael Ricknäs
  15. ^ We will monetise our IP no matter how much it costs, says IPCom managing director Vanilla Plus, George Malim

Further reading[]

External links[]

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