Garmin Announces Ruling in German Patent Infringement Case (GRMN)

Garmin Ltd. GRMN announced today that the District Court of Düsseldorf has issued a ruling in the patent litigation initiated by Pioneer Corporation. The Court's ruling, which is subject to appeal, found that the two patents asserted by Pioneer are infringed by certain Garmin software functionality. Garmin has already developed minor software revisions that eliminate the narrow functionality at issue in the litigation. Because these software revisions may be quickly implemented in Garmin products, the Court's ruling is not expected to have any impact on Garmin's ability to continue importing and selling its products. Garmin has also filed a lawsuit in the German Federal Patent Court in Munich to invalidate both patents asserted by Pioneer in the Düsseldorf action based on prior inventions by others. “The ruling by the District Court of Düsseldorf regarding the narrow functionality at issue does not change Garmin's view that that Pioneer's patents do not cover any important features found in Garmin's modern navigation products,” said Andrew Etkind, Garmin's vice president and general counsel. The Court's ruling is the second recent decision in Pioneer's litigation campaign against Garmin. In the first ruling, issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on December 16, 2010, the ITC Administrative Law Judge's Initial Determination found that Garmin's products do not infringe any of the three U.S. patents that were asserted by Pioneer in the ITC proceedings.