Philips succeeds at UPC in suit against Belkin

In the dispute over a Philips patent for wireless inductive charging of portable electronic devices, the UPC has issued a comprehensive injunction and infringement ruling against Belkin. However, the judgment stands in conflict with a legally binding German decision that was issued in Belkin's favour.

In one of the UPC’s first telecommunications lawsuits, Philips has taken a dispute previously fought against Belkin in Germany to the European level. The move has proved a success.

Philips’ EP 2 867 997 B1 protects a technique for wireless inductive power transfer to charge batteries of portable devices such as cell phones or tablets. The UPC’s local division Munich has now ruled that Belkin infringed the patent and the court upheld the patent in its entirety (case ID: UPC_CFI_390/2023, ACT_583273/2023, CC_584891/2023).

At the same time, the court awarded Phillips the right to damages, as well as the legal costs for a hearing to determine the amount of damages. However, the presiding judge Matthias Zigann, judges Edger Brinkman and Tobias Pichlmaier, and technical judge Anders Hansson ruled out a product recall.

Conflicting national judgment

Philips has received an injunction for a number of European countries, including Belgium, France, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, and Sweden. The judges also explicitly mentioned Germany, but it is unclear exactly what this means in practice.

There is already a legally binding national judgment in place for Germany, in which the court ruled the patent was not infringed. In the nullity proceedings the Federal Patent Court upheld the patent; an appeal is pending.

Philips must now decide how to implement the injunction. No deadlines are specified in the judgment. According to the ruling, Philips does not have to pay a security deposit. However, the court has set a penalty payment in the event of a further infringement by Belkin.

In addition, two parallel proceedings regarding EP  2 372 863 (court ID: 459762/2023) and EP 2 628 233 (court ID: 463961/2023) are still pending at the UPC.