Patent Dispute over TV Receivers over

The complaint of Interessengemeinschaft für Rundfunkschutzrechte GmbH & Co. KG (IGR) [Interest association for broadcasting property rights] against Topfield Europe GmbH, the German subsidiary of Korean technology company Topfield, was lawfully dismissed by decision of January 7, 2009. This confirmed the judgment of the first instance court in the patent dispute about single-line presentations on TV receiver displays in the appeal proceedings.

The disputed patent from among the Grundig patent portfolio protects TV receivers operated with the help of drop-down menus. The special feature here is that in this menu, the different options that can be selected are not shown below or next to each other, but rather consecutively on a display.

The decision by OLG Nuremberg supports Topfield's statement that the presentation on the television screen does not infringe the disputed patent. The decisions in two other patent infringement proceedings initiated by IGR at the same time, as well as in the corresponding patent invalidation proceedings are still pending.

Cologne-based Topfield Europe GmbH and its Korean parent company Topfield Co. Ltd. were represented by Friederike Kienitz, attorney, Cologne, as well as by Dr. Anton Horn and Sabine Fiedler (both Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, Düsseldorf) and by patent attorney Philipe Walter, COHAUSZ & FLORACK.