Garmin vs. TomTom - Round I
Well, this saga isn't over, but the court at the Hague decided last week that Garmin did not infringe on TomTom design patens covering the look of the TomTom device. This appears to be a blow to TomTom who had hoped to stem the flow of Garmin devices in the European market. TomTom was ordered to pay 37,000 euros to Garmin to cover their lawyer expenses. The ruling allows Garmin to continue to sell the Garmin StreetPilot C300 and C500 series GPS units in Europe where TomTom alleged that Garmin designed the StreetPilots to be a me-too rip off of the TomTom GO line. What's next? Well there are still lawsuits outstanding, where Garmin alleges that TomTom has infringed on Garmin patents covering routing algorithms.
Information from Garmin's press release follows:
“We are pleased with the Dutch court’s recognition that TomTom’s infringement allegations lack merit,” said Andrew Etkind, Garmin’s General Counsel. “This baseless lawsuit was filed by TomTom after Garmin took legal action against TomTom in the United States to stop TomTom’s pervasive infringement of Garmin’s intellectual property rights.”
Garmin’s lawsuit against TomTom for infringement of five Garmin patents is proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and the trial is scheduled for February 2007. Garmin has also recently filed a lawsuit against TomTom in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for infringement of a sixth Garmin patent. After the Wisconsin lawsuit was filed, TomTom, which does not hold any U.S. patents for technology it developed itself, purchased three U.S. patents from Horizon Navigation, Inc. and then asserted these patents in a counterclaim in the Wisconsin lawsuit.
Garmin has also filed a lawsuit against TomTom in the Netherlands seeking a declaration of non-infringement of the European registered design that was asserted by TomTom in the preliminary relief proceedings. In addition, Garmin has filed a lawsuit against TomTom in the United Kingdom to invalidate a UK patent owned by TomTom.
Garmin currently owns 285 U.S. patents and 3 European registered designs and has 165 patent applications pending. Garmin was recently selected as an inaugural constituent of the Ocean Tomo 300 Patent Index based on the value of Garmin’s patent portfolio.
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Posted by Scott Martin at November 6, 2006 8:43 AM
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