German Court Fines Netflix EUR 7.05M for Infringement of Broadcom Patent

Broadcom (AVGO) announced that the District Court in Munich, Germany fined Netflix (NFLX) EUR 7.05 million for its infringement of a Broadcom patent. This fine was for Netflix’s continued infringement of the patent in deliberate violation of the court’s September 14, 2023 judgment that Netflix infringes the patent and must cease and desist all further infringement in Germany. The European patent at issue, EP 2 575 366, covers key features often used in HEVC/H.265 video coding, which Netflix uses to encode and stream Ultra HD content to subscribers. The court set the fine at EUR 150,000, or in the alternative 15 days of imprisonment for members of Netflix’s board of directors, for each of the 47 days that Netflix had infringed in violation of the cease-and-desist order. Netflix may appeal the fine, and Broadcom will seek additional penalties for Netflix’s continuing violation of that order.