Logitech disputes patent infringement claim by Universal Electronics

UEI filed suit on seventeen patents against Logitech on Friday, July 15, 2011, rather than continuing license renewal negotiations with the company. Logitech originally entered into a license agreement with UEI in 2004 for certain UEI patents, to settle a lawsuit against Logitech Harmony remotes that was filed by UEI after the independent development of the Harmony remote technology. Logitech declined to renew the license on the same terms because the patents originally subject to dispute had either expired or were licensed during the patent application stage and, after the patents were granted, were determined to be inapplicable to Logitech products. Four of the seventeen patents in the lawsuit were never raised by UEI in the license renewal discussion. Three patents are expired. The remaining ten patents in the lawsuit include some that Logitech has determined to be inapplicable to its products and some that Logitech licensed as patent applications but were determined to be inapplicable once the patents were granted. Prior to receiving the complaint, Logitech had already determined that it did not infringe on any valid claim of ten of the fourteen unexpired patents and quickly reached the same conclusion with respect to the four additional patents. “Logitech has a strong intellectual property (IP) portfolio for remote-control technology,” said Ashish Arora, Logitech vice president and general manager of the Digital Home business unit. “With the acquisition of our Harmony remote control business in 2004, which has become the leading brand in advanced universal remotes, we obtained patent applications on that technology that have subsequently become issued patents. We have also developed our own new patented technology and acquired additional patents. “Logitech respects the intellectual property rights of others, and has a history of purchasing or licensing patents when needed. However, we are confident that Logitech does not need a license from UEI. We believe that UEI’s lawsuit is without merit and we are confident that we will prevail in court.”