Finnegan secures third straight victory for BMW Group against patent assertion entity

Washington DC – February 6, 2024 – Finnegan is thrilled to announce that firm client BMW Group secured a zero-dollar resolution in Arigna Technology Limited’s assertion of patent infringement of US Patent No. 7,049,850 (“the ’850 patent”) in the United States Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

In 2021 Arigna, a patent assertion entity related to Atlantic IP Services Ltd., filed suit against a broad swath of the automotive industry in multiple District Courts and at the ITC. Believing that it should not have to take a license to the four Arigna patents asserted against BMW Group (including the ’850 patent) that are both uninfringed and invalid, BMW Group is the only automaker that has refused to accede to Arigna’s demands.

In response to Arigna’s initial attempt to assert the ’850 patent in the Eastern District of Texas, BMW Group brought a declaratory judgment action in the EDVA on the same underlying accusations of infringement after Judge Gilstrap dismissed the original case for lack of venue. In this declaratory judgment action, Finnegan successfully showed Arigna that its infringement theory was directed to a prior art product, which would render the asserted ’850 patent invalid. Defeated, Arigna pulled its infringement allegations and issued a royalty-free covenant never to sue BMW Group again on the asserted ’850 patent.

This represents the third straight success for BMW Group in cases brought by Atlantic IP entities, including besting Arigna on a different patent at the International Trade Commission and forcing Scramoge Technology LTD to grant a zero-dollar walkaway:

• https://www.finnegan.com/en/firm/news/finnegan-and-bmw-successfully-dismantle-non-practicing-entitys-efforts.html
• https://www.finnegan.com/en/firm/news/finnegan-secures-itc-win-on-behalf-of-bmw.html

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