Fractus S.A. and its licensing partner Vectis IP Ltd are glad to announce that Fractus has obtained unprecedented ex parte injunctions against several Companies for patent infringement of its antenna technology at the Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona.
These actions were filed the week before MWC by Fractus upon knowing that several suspected infringers (companies from France and the People’s Republic of China) were going to participate as exhibitors at MWC in Barcelona.
The specialized Patent Courts of Barcelona granted ex parte injunctions in three different proceedings under the specific Protocol set up by the Judiciary in agreement with GSMA, the event’s organization and Barcelona’s Trade Fair FIRA for rapid action at the MWC 2017. On Monday 27 February, the very first day of the Trade Show, the Court served the injunctions on the prima facie infringers and enforced the injunctions by seizing the infringing products. The Court also performed a raid to seize new products, displayed for the first time at the show, to be urgently examined by a Court designated expert. After receiving the expert report confirming the infringement, the Court granted an additional injunction which was served and enforced on Tuesday 28 February.
Rubén Bonet, CEO of Fractus, commented: “We are proud that our technology has been widely adopted and that the market leaders in the cellular industry are licensed. This success is promoting innovation and stimulating further R&D investments. We continue to be negotiation oriented and use enforcement actions only as a last measure to defend our intellectual property”. Giustino de Sanctis, CEO of Vectis, added: “We are very proud of our partnership with Fractus, a recognized innovator in the cellular industry. We share the same values and approach and look very much forward to continuing to expand the licensee base by negotiating licenses, while ensuring that a level playing field is maintained in the market and a fair degree of protection is granted to the many companies that truly respect IP rights and have already taken a license”.
About Fractus – Fractus is an early pioneer in developing internal antennas for smartphones, tablets and other wireless Internet of Things devices and holds an intellectual property rights portfolio of more than 30 inventions protected through over 120 patents and patent applications in the United States, Europe and Asia. Among the numerous awards and honours the company has received for its innovative work, Fractus was named a 2005 Davos World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and one of Red Herring’s top innovative companies for 2006. It also won the 2004 Frost & Sullivan Award for technological innovation and the 2010 National Communication Award of the Catalan Government in the telecommunications category. A team of Fractus inventors was finalist for the EPO European Inventor Award 2014. On November 2015, Fractus was awarded Academiae Dilecta by the Spanish Royal Engineering Academy. Fractus has teamed with UK based VECTIS IP Ltd. to license its antenna patent portfolio.
About Vectis – Vectis is an IP and technology licensing company which believes in the key role of intellectual property in promoting innovation. Vectis supports a level playing field for IP owners and implementers, working with both to unlock the full value of innovation sharing. With its global reach, Vectis is a solution provider and a contributor to a fairer and more sustainable innovation system.
