U-blox and KPN settle patent dispute and sign patent license agreement

Recently, U-bloxAG and U-bloxAmerica Inc. (“U-blox”), announced that it has entered into a non-exclusive worldwide patent license agreement with Koninklijke KPN NV, (“KPN”), for a defined period while settling their pending patent litigation. The patent license agreement covers the sale of u-blox products and services that KPN considers essential for telecommunications standards. The patent infringement litigation between the two companies was dismissed.

U-blox is a leading global provider of wireless positioning and communication technologies and services, while KPN is a Dutch provider of telecommunications (including fixed, mobile, television and internet) and ICT solutions.

The patent license agreement was concluded in the context of patent litigation in which the two companies were involved (Koninklijke KPN NV v U-Blox AG and U-Blox America, Inc. in the Delaware District Court). More specifically, the litigation concerned US Patent No. 6,212,662 to KPN entitled “Method and devices for data transmission with transmission error checking” with a priority dating back to the year 1995. KPN is the owner by assignment of we Patent No. 6,212,662 and holds all rights, title and interest, including the exclusive right to prosecute and recover for all infringements.

The invention relates to a method and devices for detecting errors, in particular transmission errors, in data streams and / or data packets. Transmission errors can occur, for example, due to electromagnetic radiation, shortcomings in a storage medium (transmission over time), and errors in switching and transmission equipment. Systematic errors, i.e. repeating errors, can occur among other things by repeating error in the transmission channel (for example an interference signal with a certain frequency) or by an error of equipment. With systematic errors, it can therefore happen that an error, once not recognized as such, is not continually detected. With technology, the detection function is varied based on time and / or the data itself, for example by assigning an individual variation value to each index (packet index), effectively causing the data itself to vary. The invention is particularly suitable for an application to compressed data streams.

The devices claimed in we Patent No. 6,212,662 has proven to be of great importance in the field of error detection and correction. At a minimum, these ‘662 charged products include all smartphones and other mobile telecommunication devices configured to send or receive data over an LTE, UMTS or cdma2000 radio telecommunication network using or incorporating the error checking technology described in the appendix. A. This includes products such as the following: u-blox Lisa-U2 series, Toby-L2 series, Toby-R2 series, MPCI-L2 series, EVKL2 series, Lara -R2 series, Sara-U2 series, C027 series with LISA cellular module, C16 series telematics application card with LISA cellular module, EVK-U2x, EVK-U26 / 27 with SARAU2, EVK-U20 // U23, EVK-L20 / EVK -Cellular evaluation kit L22, ADP- L200 and ADP-L210.

U.S. Patent No. 6,212,662 has already been the subject of litigation in Koninklijke KPN NV, v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., (Civil actions n ° 2: 14-cv-1165 and 2: 15-cv-948; ED Tex.). The court in that case interpreted the patent. Samsung subsequently entered into a patent settlement and licensing agreement with KPN.

Around January of this year (2021), KPN filed a series of patent infringement lawsuits against U-blox, as well as against Acer, BLU products, Bullitt Group, Xiaomi, and Yulong Computer Telecommunications Scientific Society (Coolpad Technologies) in the district of Delaware, most of whom have since been made redundant. In August of this year, U-blox filed a declaratory judgment action in the South Quarter of California against KPN (3: 21-cv-01220), making various claims related to KPN’s alleged failure to license its standard essential patents related to 2G, 3G and 4G cellular technology on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms ( FRAND).

U-blox and KPN settle patent dispute and sign patent license agreement

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