Avago v Tesla (UPC_CFI_54/2023)

• This decision concerned the first set of proceedings between Avago and Tesla, there were ongoing parallel proceedings before the Munich LD. Avago alleged that two Tesla entities infringed its patent relating to the control of the power supply of electronic circuits and their modules by the sale of the Tesla Model Y vehicle, which contains a computer with an infotainment processor that is alleged to make use of the patent. Tesla counterclaimed that the patent was invalid.
• The Hamburg LD confirmed that a patent can remain partially valid in the case where there are independent claims that the grounds of revocation do not extend to. Avago's patent was revoked to the extent that its subject matter went beyond claim 1 in auxiliary request 1. However, this meant that the patent claims were narrowed to such an extent that the court found that they were not infringed by Tesla.
• The court used the problem-solution approach to inventive step as a cross-check to the approach deployed in its analysis, concluding that the same outcome was reached on either approach.

This analysis is based on a machine translation of a decision not available in English.