David against Goliath. A small Catalan company, Ona Patents, has decided to take three Apple group companies and two Google subsidiaries to court for violating patent rights. The lawsuit was submitted to the unified court of first instance of the Unified European Patent in Düsseldorf last March.
Ona Patents, based in Barcelona and directed by Raúl Díaz Morales, is technically what is called in legal jargon an NPE, a company that does not implement the patented invention but holds its exclusive rights. It is an instrumental company that neither created nor markets the invention, but is the owner of it and that, through legal claims, can manage, thanks to compensation, to monetize income.
In the specific case, the patent refers to a technology that allows “positioning or locating moving objects through transmission signals.” In other words, it is a location technique that involves wireless networks. It was initially developed by the Finnish company Ekahau Oy and ended up, after several transfers, in the hands of Ona Patents. The technology gained protection in Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Since the British are outside the unified system, the lawsuit has been filed in Germany.
Apple and Google have required the legal services of the most prestigious lawyers on these issues. The Cupertino firm will feature Tilman Mueller-Stoy of Bardehle Pagenberg, who previously represented Microsoft in smartphone litigation. While Google will use the services of Marcus Grosch, from the Quinn Emanuel law firm, who already represented Motorola at the time. For its part, Ona Catalana has signed Christof Augenstein, from Kather Augenstein, who already had Ericsson among her clients. In practice, this type of litigation has only to do with money, because Ona Patents has no strategic or industrial interests. The figures for the alleged damage being claimed are not known.
Enric Carbonell, partner and European patent agent at ABG Intellectual Property, explains that in cases like this, defendants have three options. One, that Apple and Google argue that the patent granted was actually null and file an appeal. Two, that it was valid but there was no violation. Or three, that an agreement be reached between the parties to avoid a trial that in theory could take a year to arrive.
The Unified European Patent system came into force on June 1, 2023. Since then there have been more than 140 court cases. The member countries of the convention have the right to have a court seat on their territory. Spain has not signed the agreement, claiming among other reasons that Spanish cannot be used as a working language.
If Ona Patents has been the first Spanish company to defend its rights under this regime, the first to be sued has been Arkyne, based in Viladecans. The complaint, filed by the Dutch company Plant-e, is being processed in the Court of The Hague. After an appeal, English is being used.