A German court has put a nation-wide sales and production ban on Ford cars able to establish internet connection. It said this as a part of a lawsuit over the violation of wireless technology patents.
The verdict by the Munich regional court is not legally binding. It said that this can still be appealed, adding a 227 million euro security payment by the plaintiff, Japan’s IP Bridge Inc, was required for it to become provisionally enforceable. The ruling reflects the growing tension between tech firms that want automakers to pay royalties for technologies used in navigation systems, vehicle communications and self-driving cars. This is in their push towards autonomous driving.
Ford gave a statement that the reason of this court case is the licensing of standard-essential patents for LTE networks. Since they did not yet have received the written opinion of the court, they do not want to comment on this matter at this time.
