Written by: Sam Orlando
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA - In an escalating legal battle, Nokia Technologies has filed an ex parte application in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The application seeks permission to gather discovery from Amazon.com, Inc. for ongoing and planned patent litigation in Germany. This move is a part of Nokia's broader strategy to enforce its patents globally against Amazon, primarily focusing on the tech giant's Prime Video service.
Nokia alleges that Amazon has committed widespread global infringement of its patents, despite Nokia's extended efforts to negotiate a license. The dispute involves 29 different patents, spanning jurisdictions including the United States, Germany, India, the European Union, and the United Kingdom.
The crux of Nokia's U.S. application under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 is to obtain specific technical documents from Amazon. These documents relate to three European patents in Nokia's portfolio, covering advanced video coding techniques and digital content delivery systems. Nokia asserts these technologies are being used in Amazon’s Prime Video service without a proper license.
Two of the patents involve High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), a standard for video file compression and decompression, where Nokia has separate claims for encoding and decoding processes. Nokia has already initiated legal actions in Germany based on these patents and plans to file additional cases. The third patent revolves around content distribution networks (CDNs), particularly focusing on Amazon's Prime Video content delivery methods.
Nokia's application argues that Amazon's internal documents are crucial for confirming the alleged infringement of these patents. The request aligns with the statutory requirements and discretionary factors under Section 1782, including the lack of sufficient discovery mechanisms in the German courts and the non-intrusive nature of the requested discovery.
This legal development signifies a significant escalation in Nokia’s long-standing patent enforcement efforts and highlights the complex nature of global intellectual property rights in the tech industry. With Amazon's response pending, the outcome of this application could have far-reaching implications for both companies and the broader tech sector.
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