Huawei and Bird & Bird successful against Amazon in dispute over wifi routers

Two European subsidiaries of Amazon and Eero – a manufacturer of wifi routers also owned by Amazon – have infringed European patent EP 3334112 and may now no longer sell Wifi-6-capable products in Germany. The Regional Court Munich handed down this ruling on December 15, on the same day as the hearing.

Huawei had sued for injunctive relief, information and accounting, destruction, recall and damages (case ID: 7 O 10988/22).

However, the ruling only affects wifi routers that Amazon and Eero manufacture themselves, such as the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4k. Other manufacturers may continue to sell their products via the Amazon platform.

Potential damages

Huawei can enforce the judgment against a security deposit totaling €4.5 million. Amazon may appeal against the judgment, and this is considered likely. However, the court has not justified its surprisingly quick decision in writing yet. According to JUVE Patent information Amazon has not yet filed an appeal.

If the ruling stands, Amazon would have to compensate Huawei for the damages it has suffered since 19 March 2020. According to JUVE Patent information, Amazon has not thus far filed a nullity action against EP 112, but has concentrated on the FRAND defence.

Four claims against Amazon

The judgment is part of a larger dispute over Wifi 6 patents. Huawei has also sued Amazon over another Wifi 6 patent in Munich (case ID: 7 O 10987/22). The court will hear this case in March 2024. In Düsseldorf and Munich, Huawei sued Amazon over a Wifi 5 patent, but the courts have not yet set a date for the oral hearing.

Huawei is also taking action against Fritzbox manufacturer AVM with two infringement suits at the Regional Court Munich. In November, according to press reports the court ordered AVM to cease and desist. The court was of the opinion that Wifi-6-capable AVM products infringed Huawei’s EP 3 337 077. AVM has since appealed against the ruling.

In addition, Huawei sued other companies such as Netgear and automotive group Stellantis. The Chinese company sued the former at Düsseldorf Regional Court. Huawei sued Stellantis back in 2022 over mobile phone patents that play a role in car connectivity. The Netherlands-based company manufactures about six million cars a year under the Fiat, Opel, Peugeot and Citroën brands.

Huawei turns to UPC

While Huawei only sued Amazon and AVM in German patent courts, the Chinese company escalated its dispute with Netgear to the Unified Patent Court in July. Previously, Huawei had not had much success at Düsseldorf Regional Court. The court had dismissed one of Huawei’s lawsuits and suspended the second.

Huawei’s lawsuit at the Munich local division was one of the first SEP proceedings at the new court (case ID: ACT_459771/2023). According to the website www.upc.beetz.nl Netgear recently has filed a counter claim of revocation with the UPC.

Bird & Bird again

A team led by Christian Harmsen for Huawei at the Regional Court of Munich obtained the judgment against Amazon and Eero. The Bird & Bird partner has a long relationship with the Chinese company. He was Huawei’s lead counsel in the dispute with ZTE, which led to the landmark judgment of the CJEU in Huawei vs. ZTE.

Christian Harmsen

In Germany, Huawei also works with a team of lawyers led by Tobias Hessel. Hessel brought the client relationship from his old law firm Hoyng ROKH Monegier to Clifford Chance. He is leading the lawsuits against AVM and Netgear, among others.

As always, when Huawei is involved in patent litigation, the patent attorneys of Braun-Dullaeus Pannen Emmerling are involved. Fritz Emmerling’s team has conducted most of the proceedings for the Chinese group in the past. However, Huawei also works with Mitscherlich & Partner.

AVM and Netgear are defending themselves with Klaka and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer respectively.

Amazon relied on a mixed team from Hogan Lovells led by Munich-based partner Steffen Steininger and Benjamin Schröer. The firm has long-standing relationships with Amazon in both the UK and Germany. Hogan Lovells’ Munich based partner Steffen Steininger acted for Amazon in the German dispute over music streaming technology against Datascape.

A Hogan Lovells team around Steffen Steininger is representing Amazon also in a UPC case against Nokia.

For Huawei
Bird & Bird (Düsseldorf):Christian Harmsen (lead), Felix Rödiger, Matthias Meyer (all partners); counsel: Nick Pearson; associates: Jonas Smeets, Xinming Chen
Braun-Dullaeus Pannen Emmerling (Düsseldorf, Munich): Friedrich Emmerling, Karl-Ulrich Braun-Dullaeus, Michael Behmke, Franck Klein, Jörg Kohlschmidt (all partners); associates: Melanie Zani (all patent attorneys)
In-house (Munich, Brussels): Xiaowu Zhang (Head IPR Europe), Thomas Dreiser (Chief EU IP Litigation Counsel), Liang Gao (Director IPR Dispute Resolution Europe)

Steffen Steininger

For Amazon
Hogan Lovells (Munich): Steffen Steininger, Benjamin Schröer (both lead legal), Andreas Schmid (patent attorney, all partners); associates: Daniel Kaneko, Leonard Hollander, Theresa Storr, Anna Wendl, Aaron Stumpf, Niels Gierse, Alexander Lebschy (patent attorney)

Regional Court Munich,
Oliver Schön (presiding judge), Hubertus Schacht, judge Tözsér