CD-R patent infringement cases in the Netherlands; Philips and Taiwan manufacturers both won some and lost some

Source: Commercial Times 11/23/2001
Economic Daily News 11/23/01 and 11/22/2001
Translated by Jem Chung

　Princo’s and Postech’s containers containing CD-Rs were seized in the Netherlands respectively in this April and May because of both companies’ refusal to sign a license agreement with Philips.  At that time, Philips also filed a petition with the court for a provisional seizure against the said two companies, requesting that they not sell their products to Europe.  However, in the recent judgment made by the summary court in charge of this petition, Princo and Postech were enjoined from selling their products to the Netherlands  only, not including the rest of the EU member countries.  Princo and Postech, meanwhile, also filed a complaint against the applicability of Philips’ patents, and the court judgment is favorable to them.  This judgment is deemed by the CD-R industry as a victory in breaking the constraints brought by Philips’ patent rights. 

　Postech expressed that the court has made the judgment that Postech did not infringe upon the patents under Reg. Nos. 172 and 748, and Postech had filed invalidation actions to invalidate the two patents.  As a result, Philips only has the patent under Reg. No. 238 applicable in the Netherlands.  However, Philips rebuted Postech’s such remark and expressed that it will continue filing other patent infringement actions with the European Union against Postech.