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Following similar decisions in the US and Germany, the Federal Court of Australia has ruled in favour of Motorola Solutions in its copyright and patent infringement charges against Hytera Communications.
Hytera is a radio transceivers and radio systems manufacturer based in China.
The Court decided that Motorola was entitled to monetary remedies, including extra damages for copyright infringement, as well as an injunction permanently prohibiting Hytera from further infringement.
The Court’s finding that Hytera’s violation of Motorola Solutions’ rights was flagrant and “constituted a serious industrial theft” of its proprietary source code gave rise to the claim to further damages.
Motorola claims it proved its case despite “the fact that much of Hytera’s source code has vanished”.
Shortly after being commenced in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on March 14, 2017, and a patent infringement complaint being submitted to the US International Trade Commission on March 29, 2017, legal action for patent infringement began in Australia in 2017.
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Motorola said in its claim document in 2017, “Hytera knew that its analog radio products faced extinction and that it could not hope to develop its own digital two-way radios in time to save its ailing business.”
Additionally, charges of patent violation were made to the Düsseldorf Regional Court in Germany.
Motorola Solutions chief administrative officer Mark Hacker said. “Since we commenced our global litigation campaign to hold Hytera accountable, a federal jury in the United States, the U.S International Trade Commission, courts in Germany and now Australia have all ruled in our favour.”
A few of Hytera’s Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) products were found to have infringed an Australian patent owned by Motorola Solutions, according to the court.
Numerous Hytera portables (22 models), mobiles (two models), and repeaters (four models) are among the company’s infringing DMR products.
The court also determined that Hytera violated Motorola Solutions’ copyright (and continues to do so) by forcibly incorporating Motorola Solutions’ source code into Hytera’s DMR equipment.
The injunction remedy will prevent Hytera from creating, importing, offering to sell, selling, or otherwise disseminating DMR devices in Australia that are capable of using Motorola Solutions’ patented processes or repurposing the copyrighted source code of Motorola Solutions.
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Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
