A Story Of David VS Goliath
A US African American Inventor’s Company Enovsys LLC, a California based corporation, is putting the German Judicial system’s integrity to test regarding patent right infringement against Deutsch Telekom.
The article below from Financial Afrik demonstrates the challenge and handicap encountered by inventors when faced with upholding their patent against fortune 500 companies. This is very intriguing as relates to how far an African American Inventor has fought for justice. It certainly is a David and Goliath anecdote. (The Immigrant Magazine)
David against Goliath. After a long and costly legal battle, Enovsys LLC, a California (USA) based company was able to obtain a favorable decision from the German Supreme Court on 19 July 2016 reinstating its patent rights in Germany to the detriment of Deutsche Telecom, DT.
According to German court records, Enovsys brought a patent infringement case at the Munich District Court, MDC, in Germany, against DT in 2011 for infringing one of its patents, EP 1133827, that was granted by the European Patent Office, EPO, on 27th December 2006.
As granted by the EPO, the Enovsys European patent covers “A communication system” for positioning and divulging the location of a pager/call receiver using privacy features.
A long battle
Even though the Enovsys patent, as granted by the EPO does not exclude mobile telephone, the MDC court in its final order excluded mobile telephones from the location based communication system protected by the Enovsys patents, relieving DT completely from patent infringement.
In a parallel case brought by DT against the Californian company at the German Patent Court, GPC, the GPC eventually determined that the Enovsys patent actually covers mobile telephones as intended by the EPO, contradicting the decision of the MDC that relieved DT of patent infringement.
However, and paradoxically, the GPC revoked the Enovsys patent in Germany citing the presence of a “disjunctive teaching” between the patent specification and claims issued by the EPO that could not be cured under German Patent law in the eyes of the GPC. The case then bubbled up to the German Supreme Court, in Karlsruhe, Germany for an appeal of the revocation decision by the GPC.
The German Supreme Court heard oral arguments on 10th May 2016, regarding the GPC decision to revoke the Enovsys patent in Germany. Interestingly, the case drew considerable attention from faculty and students at the University of Dusseldorf law school who also took a trip to Karlshure, Germany, to listen to oral arguments from both sides. DT was represented by Meissner Bolte while Enovsys was represented by the law firm of Wragge & Co and MFG Patentanwalte from Munich. Oral arguments in the case lasted for over 5 hours with several twist and turns leaving the German Supreme Court un-swayed by the GPC decision to revoke the Enovsys patent.
