German Police Raid 51 CeBIT Stands Over Patent Claims

LeCaddie writes "Last week German investigators raided 51 exhibitor stands at CeBIT, the German information technology fair in Hanover, looking for goods suspected of infringing patents. Some 183 police, customs officers, and prosecutors raided the fair on Wednesday and carried off 68 boxes of electronic goods and documents including cellphones, navigation devices, digital picture frames, and flat-screen monitors. Of the 51 companies raided, 24 were Chinese. Most of the patents concerned were related to devices with MP3, MP4, and DVB standard functions for digital audio and video, blank CDs, and DVD copiers, police said." In the US there are no criminal penalties associated with patents, and such a raid could not be conducted, especially in the absence of a court ruling of infringement.

Re:Software patents?

[Colin Smith]

I thought software patents were illegal in Europe

Europe isn't a country...

 

dept.?

[Xogede]

So, is this from the police dept.?

Re:very, very dangerous

[FudRucker]

the german govenment installed gestapo-2.0

It's only to be expected.

[Mr. Bad Example]

The booths in question were from firms based in Poland, Hungary, and the former Czechoslovakia. It was just force of habit.

Re:MiniOne

[ColdWetDog]

In this day and age of shoddy products from most every manufacturer/importer, tell me why i should care?

Let's see:

Cheapo knockoff iPhone sits in your pants pocket, several inches away from your testicles.

Cheapo knockoff iPhone has embedded in it a cheapo knockoff Sony Lithium battery that is even more likely to overheat than the real one.

Cheapo knockoff iPhone has cheapo knockoff current limiters on the battery and cheapo knockoff components in the battery supervisor circuit.

Next step left as exercise for the student.