A Texas federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing Onesta IP LLC from pursuing an injunction in Germany against Finnegan client BMW, after finding that the foreign action could interfere with ongoing U.S. litigation involving the same U.S. patents. Judge Alan Albright’s order bars Onesta from seeking any foreign relief that would limit BMW’s ability to defend itself in U.S. courts or undermine the Western District of Texas’s jurisdiction.
BMW argued that Onesta, a nonpracticing entity asserting U.S. Patent Nos. 8,854,381 and 8,443,209, was attempting an unprecedented tactic by seeking a Munich injunction on U.S. patents already being litigated in the United States and before the U.S. International Trade Commission. The accused technology involves silicon incorporated into vehicle headunit processors.
Speaking to Law360, Finnegan partner and lead counsel for BMW, Lionel Lavenue, emphasized the importance of preserving U.S. jurisdiction over U.S. patent rights, noting that “maintaining the status quo (that is, that U.S. courts adjudicate U.S. patents) is necessary while it evaluates BMW's request for a full anti-suit injunction that would bar Onesta from pursuing infringement actions on U.S. patents in foreign jurisdictions, including in Germany.”
Read Judge Temporarily Blocks German Patent Case Against BMW
