Local Division Munich UPC_CFI_498/2023
Procedural Order
of the Court of First Instance of the Unified Patent Court in the main proceedings related to European Patent 3 057 321 delivered on 09/05/2024
Date of receipt of Statement of claim : 22/12/2023
TCL
Statement
Deutschland
GmbH & Co. KG
of claim served on
(Defendant) -
23/02/2024
Am Seestern 4 40547 -
Düsseldorf - DE
TCL Industrial
Holdings Co.,
Ltd.
(Defendant) -
22/F, TCL
Technology
Building, 17
Huifeng 3rd
Road, Huizhou,
Guangdong, -
CN
Statement
of claim
served on
24/03/2024
TCT Mobile
Statement
Germany
GmbH
(Defendant) -
Am Seestern 4 -
40547 -
Düsseldorf - DE
TCT Mobile
Europe SAS
(Defendant) -
55 Avenue des
Champs
Pierreux - of claim
served on
23/03/2024
Statement of claim
served on
23/03/2024
92000 -
Nanterre - FR
TCL
Communication Technology Holdings Ltd.
(Defendant) -
5/F, Building
22E, Science
Park East
Avenue, Hong
Kong Science
Park, - 00000 -
Sha-tin, Hong
Kong - CN
TCL Operations Polska Sp. z.o.o
(Defendant) ul. A.
Mickiewicza
31/41 - 96-300
TCL Overseas
Marketing Ltd.,
(Defendant) 13/F TCL Tower Tai Chung Road Tsuen Wan, New Territories - 00000 - Hong Kong - CN
APPLICANT/S
1) TCT Mobile Europe SAS
(Applicant) - 55 Avenue des Champs Pierreux - 92000 - Nanterre - FR
Represented by Ralph
Nack
2) TCT Mobile Germany GmbH
(Applicant) - Am Seestern 4 - 40547 -
Düsseldorf - DE
Represented by Ralph Nack
3) TCL Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG
(Applicant) - Am Seestern 4 - 40547 - Düsseldorf - DE
Represented by Ralph
Nack
4) TCL Operations Polska Sp. z.o.o
(Applicant) - ul. A. Mickiewicza 31/41 - 96-300
Represented by Ralph
Nack
RELEVANT PROCEEDING PARTIES
1) NEC
Corporation
(Main
proceeding
party -
Claimant) - 7-1
Shiba 5-chome
Minato-ku -
108-8001 -
Tokyo - JP
2) TCL Industrial
Holdings Co.,
Ltd.
(Main proceeding
party -
Defendant) -
22/F, TCL
Technology
Building, 17
Huifeng 3rd
Road, Huizhou,
Guangdong, -
3) TCL
Communication Technology Holdings Ltd. (Main proceeding party Defendant) 5/F, Building 22E, Science Park East Avenue, Hong Kong Science Park, - 00000 Sha-tin, Hong Kong - CN
4) TCL Overseas
Marketing Ltd.,
(Main proceeding party Defendant) 13/F TCL Tower Tai Chung Road Tsuen Wan, New Territories - 00000 - Hong Kong - CN
PATENT AT ISSUE
Patent no.
EP3057321
Proprietor/s
NEC Corporation
DECIDING JUDGE
COMPOSITION OF PANEL -FULL PANEL
Presiding judge and
Judge-rapporteur
Matthias Zigann
Legally qualified judge
Tobias Pichlmaier
Legally qualified judge
Andras Kupecz
The order was made by Presiding Judge Matthias Zigann, acting as Judge-Rapporteur.
LANGUAGE OF PROCEEDINGS: English
SUBJECT-MATTER OF THE PROCEEDINGS
Patent infringement;
here: missing or wrong appendixes in the statement of claim
STATEMENT OF THE FORMS OF ORDER SOUGHT BY THE PARTIES
Defendants 1, 3, 6 and 6 request:
The Plaintiff is ordered to submit to the Defendants the HEVC standard version which it refers to on page 51 of its Statement of Claim dated 22 December 2023.
SUMMARY OF FACTS
The statement of claim was lodged on 22/12/2023. Service was effected on defendant 1 on 23/02/2024, on defendant 3 on 24/03/2024 and on defendants 4 and 6 on 23/03/2024. Service on defendants 2, 5 and 7 is still to be effected.
By letter of 08/05/2024, the representative of defendants 1, 3, 4 and 6 informed the Court that the plaintiff had failed to provide substantial evidence of the alleged infringement in his statement of claim of 22/12/2023. The plaintiff did not provide any version of the HEVC standard. The allegedly relevant standard version submitted as Annex BP 6 does not show the HEVC standard, but its predecessor, the AVC standard.
Representative of plaintiff proactively informed the Court by email on 08/05/2024 that the irrelevant AVC standard had in fact been inadvertently submitted in all three proceedings instead of the HEVC standard. The correct standard will be uploaded to the CMS as soon as the Court grants the opportunity to amend the pleadings. Therefore, a final order could be issued without first inviting comments from the applicant.
GROUNDS FOR THE ORDER
The plaintiff should be ordered to provide the correct standard version. This can be done by filing an amended version of the statement of claim. In doing so, the plaintiff may also amend any other information that will facilitate service on defendants 2, 5 and 7.
The parties are reminded that the time limit for lodging the statement of defence may be extended accordingly for defendants 1, 3, 4 and 6 upon request. This can be conveniently dealt with in workstream App_24843/2024 in connection with a request by the plaintiff to shorten the time limit for defendants 3, 4 and 6 to 23/05/2024.
ORDER
Plaintiff is ordered to amend the statement of claim accordingly within 10 days.
Dr. Zigann Presiding Judge and Judge-rapporteur
ORDER DETAILS
Order no. ORD_26426/2024 in ACTION NUMBER: ACT_596658/2023
UPC number: UPC_CFI_498/2023 Action type: Infringement Action Related proceeding no. Application No.: 26104/2024 Application Type: Generic procedural Application