Patent litigation in electronics

In electronics, a single product often embodies a large number of patents and components sourced from many suppliers. The dispute turns on how the claims are read, on proof of how the product works internally and on how liability is allocated along the supply chain.

Issues specific to the sector

Infringement is rarely visible to the naked eye. It requires showing how a circuit, a microcontroller or embedded software operates: teardown analyses, technical documentation, source code where it can be obtained. Saisie-contrefaçon and, before the Unified Patent Court, orders to preserve evidence are often where the case begins.

Computer-implemented inventions also raise a validity question of their own: the technical contribution of the invention under Article 52 of the European Patent Convention. Matthieu Dhenne writes regularly on this subject.

Product cycles are short. A main action that concludes after the product has been withdrawn serves only to recover damages, so the strategy must factor in provisional measures early and, for imported products, customs detention.

How we act

• Infringement and nullity actions before the Paris Judicial Court and the Unified Patent Court, for claimants and defendants.
• Defence of distributors, integrators and importers, and enforcement of contractual warranties against suppliers.
• Infringement and validity analyses ahead of a launch or an acquisition.
• Protection of confidential information produced in the proceedings under trade secret rules.

Is a component or product under challenge? Let us discuss it.