2026-03-16 - LD Munich - Network System Technologies v. Qualcomm et al. - UPC_CFI_64/2024
- Aktenzeichen:
- UPC_CFI_64/2024
- Datum:
- Spruchkörper:
- Court of First Instance - Munich (DE) Local Division
- Art:
- Final Decision
- Parteien:
- Network System Technologies LLC v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Samsung Semiconductor Europe GmbH, Qualcomm Incorporated, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Qualcomm Germany GmbH
Kernaussage: The Munich LD dismisses both the infringement action and the counterclaim for revocation in this NoC patent dispute.
2026-03-16 - LD Munich - Network System Technologies
v.
Qualcomm et al. - UPC_CFI_64/2024
notable
The Munich LD dismisses both the infringement action and the counterclaim for revocation in this NoC patent dispute. On validity, the court upholds the patent finding no added matter (implicit features derived from correct claim construction), novelty over Bertozzi (no disclosed correlation between data storage elements and data elements), and inventive step (Bertozzi teaches away from periodicity-dependent networks). On infringement, the claimant failed to conclusively demonstrate that Qualcomm's chips implement the patented M*N data storage element feature — the Arteris NoC Chapter (a third-party publication) was insufficient evidence, and the defendants' own submissions confirmed variable packet sizes incompatible with the claim requirements. The evidence production request under R. 190 RoP was denied as a fishing expedition lacking plausible evidence. The headnote clarifies that an 'attacked embodiment' may be defined broadly to encompass all products sharing specified technical features, including unknown and future products.
Nichtigkeitsgründe
Art. 138 EPCNovelty
Patent survived (this ground)Art. 54 EPC · Art. 138(1)(a) EPC
“Novelty attack based on Bertozzi (BP-CR 1) rejected. Feature group 4 (M*N data storage elements correlated with data elements per packet) not disclosed — Bertozzi's relay stations are determined by timing requirements, not by flit count. Figure 4's four flits merely illustrative, not teaching a correlation. [157-171]”
Inventive Step
Patent survived (this ground)Art. 56 EPC · Art. 138(1)(a) EPC
“Inventive step attacks based on Bertozzi + Nowatzyk, Bertozzi + Hassoun, and Dielissen + Nowatzyk/Hassoun all rejected. Bertozzi is not a suitable starting point as it teaches latency-insensitive operation (arbitrary pipeline depth), teaching away from the patent's periodicity requirement. Nowatzyk's temporal alignment buffer is inside the node, not the communication channel. Hassoun addresses buffer insertion for timing closure, unrelated to whole-packet delay. [172-200]”
Added Matter
Patent survived (this ground)Art. 123(2) EPC · Art. 138(1)(c) EPC
“Counterclaim for revocation based on inadmissible intermediate generalization dismissed. Court held that the features not explicitly in the claims (complete data package transmitted within N clock cycles) are implicitly required by correct interpretation — no added matter under Art. 123(2)/138(1)(c) EPC. [144-155]”