"Mercedes Settles Wireless Communications Patent Suit," Law360

05/15/2014 | Law360

---

Mercedes-Benz USA LLC has agreed to settle a patent infringement action brought by Norman IP Holdings LLC over five wireless communications patents directed to the internal operations of microprocessors or chipsets, according to documents filed Wednesday in Texas federal court.
…

Norman and Mercedes asked the court to dismiss the claims against the car maker in the long-running intellectual property dispute over a number of patents, including one relating to procedures for stopping a microprocessor’s clock signal.
…

In the most recent complaint, Norman says Mercedes makes and sells infringing systems, including the car giant’s infotainment and navigation systems, 3G cellular and 802.11-compliant wireless chipsets, microcontrollers for vehicle operations and similar products.

According to Norman, Mercedes specifies computer processors having certain power-consumption characteristics that can budget power expenditure in its product. But those processors are designed and manufactured to operate in a manner that reduces power consumption and infringes four of the plaintiff’s patents, the suit says.

With respect to the fifth patent, Norman says Mercedes specifies wireless controllers that are compliant with IEEE 802.11 and infringe during normal operation.

Norman’s patents-in-suit include U.S. Patent No. 5,502,689, protecting procedures for stopping a microprocessor’s clock signal, U.S. Patent No. 5,530,597, relating to a microprocessor’s masking of “interrupt” signals, U.S. Patent No. 5,592,555, regarding signal processing and encryption, and U.S. Patent Nos. 5,608,873 and 5,771,394, relating to a mailbox-communication structure for internal processors in a multiprocessor device, according to court documents.
…

The cases are Norman IP Holdings LLC v. Lexmark International Inc. et al., case number 6:11-cv-00495, and Norman IP Holdings LLC v. Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, case number 6:12-cv-00511, both in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division.

Read the full article here.

DiNovo Price LLP is an Austin-based law firm that handles intellectual property and antitrust litigation nationwide. DiNovo Price represents inventors, public corporations, privately-held businesses, and consumers, both individually and in class actions.