Both sides claim victory in Motorola Solutions/Hytera patent saga

Several major developments have occurred in the ongoing court battles between Motorola Solutions and Hytera over the latter’s alleged patent infringement in relation to the former’s products.

The latest news comes from Germany, where the Regional Court of Düsseldorf has issued a first-instance ruling that a limited number of Hytera's legacy DMR products did infringe a German part of a European Patent of Motorola Solutions.

The Court subsequently held the Chinese company liable for damages. It also granted two injunctions against Hytera, in the first instance preventing it from offering the patented method in Germany, and in the second – according to Motorola –, from “offering and delivering products capable of performing the patented method in Germany.”

The technology in question pertains to Hytera’s two-way DMR subscriber radios, which use “pseudo-trunking” functionality in TDMA direct mode. Motorola Solutions claim these infringe patent EP 2 342 851 B1. The decisions of the Düsseldorf Court are not final and can be appealed, something which is currently being considered by Hytera.

Speaking of the ruling, Mark Hacker, general counsel and chief administrative officer of Motorola Solutions, said: “The Regional Court has ordered remedies that punish Hytera for its illegal conduct and infringement of our intellectual property. Significantly, today’s ruling covers additional Hytera DMR subscribers beyond those that were previously found to infringe our patented squelch technology in an earlier judgment.”