Samsung Sued for Infringement of HEVC Essential Patents

DENVER-- March 28, 2022 -- MPEG LA announced today that enforcement actions have been brought in Landgericht Düsseldorf, Germany against Samsung Electronics GmbH ("Samsung") for infringement of patents in MPEG LA’s HEVC Patent Portfolio License. The patents are essential to the HEVC (also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2) digital video coding standard used in products that encode and decode video for Internet, television and mobile transmission, reception and use.

According to the complaints, Samsung Electronics GmbH’s parent Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. was both Licensor and Licensee to MPEG LA’s HEVC Patent Portfolio License from Fall 2014 until terminating in March 2020, but Samsung has continued to offer products including smartphones, tablets and televisions in Germany that use patent protected HEVC methods without license since termination.

The enforcement actions seeking injunctions, monetary damages and expenses were prepared by a team of lawyers led by Axel Verhauwen of Krieger Mes & Graf v. der Groeben and Gottfried Schüll of Cohausz & Florack.

MPEG LA, LLC

MPEG LA is the world’s leading provider of one-stop licenses for standards and other technology platforms. Starting in the 1990s, it pioneered the modern-day patent pool helping to produce the most widely used standards in consumer electronics history and is expanding access to other groundbreaking technologies. MPEG LA has operated licensing programs for a variety of technologies consisting of more than 25,000 patents in 94 countries with more than 280 patent holders and some 7,300 licensees. More than 400 licensees enjoy the worldwide coverage of MPEG LA’s HEVC Patent Portfolio License. By assisting users with implementation of their technology choices, MPEG LA offers licensing solutions that provide access to fundamental intellectual property, freedom to operate, reduced litigation risk and predictability in the business planning process. For more information, go to www.mpegla.com.