MARATHON PATENT GROUP ANNOUNCES UPDATE ON TLI COMMUNICATIONS GMBH VERSUS YAHOO! AND MEDTECH DEVELOPMENT DEUTSCHLAND GMBH VERSUS STRYKER GMBH & CO. KG
LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/29/15 -- Marathon Patent Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA) ("Marathon"), a patent licensing company, announced a litigation update for TLI Communications GmbH ("TLI GmbH") involving EP 0 814 611 B1 ("EP '611") versus Yahoo! Inc. and Yahoo! EMEA Limited (collectively "Yahoo!").
A second Oral Hearing for Yahoo! took place on October 22, 2015. A judgment regarding Yahoo!'s alleged infringement of EP '611 is expected to be announced by the Court by December 10, 2015.
On October 22, 2015, the Munich District Court held a first Oral Hearing for Facebook, Inc. and Facebook Ireland Limited (collectively, "Facebook"). At the first Oral Hearing, the Court announced that the claim construction adopted in the case against Yahoo! also applies in this case. Marathon believes that Facebook practices the EP '611 Patent based on this claim construction. The date of the second Oral Hearing is scheduled for April 28, 2016.
On December 10, 2015, the Munich District Court will hold a first Oral Hearing for German defendants Twitter Germany GmbH and Pinterest Germany GmbH. The dates of the first Oral Hearings for non-German defendants Tumblr, Inc., Instagram LLC, Twitter Inc., and Pinterest, Inc., are scheduled for March 10, 2016.
The EP '611 Patent is related to server resources and/or application software for smartphones and tablet computers, which receive and manage digital images. In the event that the Munich District Court enters a judgment of infringement after the second Oral Hearing, the Court can also grant TLI GmbH the right to enforce an injunction against the infringing service or product.
Yahoo!, Google, and Facebook have each filed separate nullity actions with the Federal Patent Court, challenging the validity of the claims of EP '611. In Germany, the validity of a patent is determined by the Federal Patent Court and not the District Court. A nullity hearing has yet to be docketed by the Federal Patent Court for any of the three nullity actions. Depending on the filing date of the nullity complaint, there potentially could be a gap of up to a year or more between the enforcement of a permanent injunction against the infringing services and/or products after an infringement determination at the District Court and a validity determination at the Federal Patent Court, with the permanent injunction lasting until the expiration of the patent.
TLI GmbH has nine remaining active infringement actions pending in the Munich District Court and three active nullity actions pending in the Federal Patent Court in Munich. The defendants include Facebook, Inc., Facebook Ireland Limited, Instagram LLC, Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Yahoo! EMEA Limited, Tumblr, Inc., Twitter Inc., Twitter Germany GmbH, Pinterest, Inc., and Pinterest Germany GmbH.
On October 28, 2015, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf moved the previously-scheduled appeal hearing in MedTech Development Deutschland GmbH versus Stryker GmbH & Co. KG from October 29, 2015 to March 3, 2016. The injunction against Stryker GmbH & Co. KG continues to remain in effect.
About Marathon Patent Group
Marathon is a patent acquisition and monetization company. The Company acquires patents from a wide-range of patent holders from individual inventors to Fortune 500 companies. Marathon's strategy of acquiring patents that cover a wide-range of subject matter allows the Company to achieve diversity within its patent asset portfolio. Marathon generates revenue with its diversified portfolio through actively managed concurrent patent rights enforcement campaigns. This approach is expected to result in a long-term, diversified revenue stream. To learn more about Marathon Patent Group, visit www.marathonpg.com.
About Noerr LLP, counsel-of-record for TLI Communications GmbH
Noerr is one of the top European law firms with more than 500 professionals in Germany, Europe and the USA. The firm delivers real value to clients by devising and handling the right solutions to complex and sophisticated legal matters. The Noerr difference is its unique combination of legal excellence, creative thinking, international experience and in-depth industry knowledge.
About BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT Anwaltspartnerschaft mbB, counsel-of-record for MedTech Development Deutschland GmbH
BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT is one of the largest legal practices in Germany, specialized in intellectual property, and one of the few practices where patent attorneys and attorneys at law work together.
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