James Delahunty
6 Mar 2008 16:46
German Police and Customs Officials investigating claims of patent violations have seized dozens of boxes of tech gadgets and equipment at CeBIT, a tech fair held annually in Hanover. The alleged patent violations primarily concern devices with MP3, MP4 or other digital video playback, as well as several DVD players and blank media.
Police said that over 180 officials were involved in the searches on Wednesday, but did not reveal the targeted individuals or companies, just stating, "the background is the number that has been rising for years of criminal complaints by the holders of patent rights in the run-up to CeBIT."
Overall, 68 boxes of mobile phones, navigation devices and flat-screen devices along with advertising material were seized. Of all the exhibitors affected, only one failed to co-operate with the officers and had to be taken to a nearby police station. 24 were from mainland China, 12 from Taiwan, 9 from Germany, 3 from Hong Kong and one each from the Netherlands, Korea and Poland.