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Philips loses 20-year patent battle in India over VCD technology
The Delhi High Court dismissed Philips’ two-decade-old patent infringement suit against Delhi-based BCI Optical Disc Ltd, ruling that the tech giant failed to prove its Video CD patent was violated. Justice Mini Pushkarna held that Philips’ comparison of its patented process with the defendants’ product was flawed and lacked essential elements of transmission, compression, and receiver mechanisms.
The Court found that the Philips patent covered three essential elements — a transmitter, a receiver, and a transmission medium — all of which were absent in the defendants’ replication process. (Imaged sourced from CNBC)
After nearly two decades of litigation, multinational tech giant Philips has lost its long-running patent infringement case against Delhi-based BCI Optical Disc Ltd., with the Delhi High Court ruling that the company failed to prove its Video CD (VCD) patent was violated, Bar and Bench reported.
In a detailed 95-page judgment delivered on October 13, Justice Mini Pushkarna held that Philips’ patent in “Digital Transmission Systems” was not infringed by the Indian firm’s replication and sale of Video CDs. The Court observed that Philips’ approach to comparing its patented process with the defendants’ products was “fundamentally flawed” and lacked precise technical mapping as mandated under the Delhi High Court Rules Governing Patent Suits, 2022.
The Court found that the Philips patent covered three essential elements — a transmitter, a receiver, and a transmission medium, all of which were absent in the defendants’ replication process.
It ruled that copying content from Master CDs did not constitute infringement, since the replication process used no compression or transmission mechanism linked to Philips’ patented technology.
“Philips has compared the defendants’ VCDs only with the end result, i.e., the compressed data, without establishing how it corresponds to the patented system. This approach is totally fallacious,” the Court observed.
Philips had filed the suit in 2004, claiming that BCI Optical used its patented technology without a licence, and sought royalty payments for the same. The Dutch company said it had created a pool of patents with other tech firms covering Video CD technologies and had licensed several Indian companies to use them.
However, the High Court found no evidence that BCI Optical had manufactured or sold CDs using Philips’ patented system. It also rejected Philips’ claim that earlier correspondence over royalty payments amounted to an admission of infringement.
Notably, the patent at the heart of the case expired in 2010, but the litigation continued over potential past damages. The Court ultimately dismissed Philips’ claims on merit, marking a significant legal setback for the global electronics brand in one of its longest-running Indian IP disputes.
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