German Court Fines Netflix €7.05 Million for Continued Infringement of Broadcom HEVC Patent

PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) announced today that the District Court in Munich, Germany fined Netflix €7.05 million for its infringement of a Broadcom patent. This fine was for Netflix’s continued infringement of the patent in deliberate violation of the court’s September 14, 2023 judgment that Netflix infringes the patent and must cease and desist all further infringement in Germany. The European patent at issue, EP 2 575 366, covers key features often used in HEVC/H.265 video coding, which Netflix uses to encode and stream Ultra HD content to subscribers.

The court set the fine at €150,000, or in the alternative 15 days of imprisonment for members of Netflix’s board of directors, for each of the 47 days that Netflix had infringed in violation of the cease-and-desist order.   Netflix may appeal the fine, and Broadcom will seek additional penalties for Netflix’s continuing violation of that order.

Under section 890 of the German Civil Procedure Code, penalties for violating the cease-and-desist order include the following for each act of infringement: (1) government fines of up to €250,000; and/or (2) up to six months’ imprisonment for members of the infringer’s board of directors for a total of up to two years’ imprisonment.

“This ruling once again acknowledges the importance of Broadcom’s patented technology to successful streaming platforms like Netflix,” said Mark Terrano, vice president and general manager of Broadcom’s Intellectual Property and Licensing Division.   “Since 2018, Netflix and Broadcom have been engaged in a wide-ranging patent dispute in which Broadcom has accused Netflix of infringing numerous U.S., German, and Dutch patents through its provision of its video streaming service.”

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