Kindermann, a Pro AV manufacturer and distributor based in Germany, achieved a final victory at the Court of Appeal in Den Haag, Netherlands, against Barco. The ruling confirms that in the Netherlands, Kindermann did not infringe upon the asserted ClickShare patent of the Belgian company with its Klick&Show collaboration solution.
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As early as 2021, the Dutch court of first instance rejected the accusation of patent infringement, even if the patent was assumed to be legally valid. Barco appealed at that time. The Court of Appeal in Den Haag confirmed the first instance decision and revoked Barco’s patent in the Netherlands on July 18, and also confirmed the revocation of Barco's patent in the Netherlands after Barco withdrew its appeal.
“We are very pleased that the patent dispute in the Netherlands has now been concluded," said Timo Meißner, managing director, Kindermann. "This also ensures legal certainty for our trading partners. We have been continuously developing Klick&Show in the meantime. The result are universal BYOM & BYOD solutions that ideally meet the requirements of the new worlds of work and education.”
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According to Kindermann, proceedings on the validity of Barco’s ClickShare patent continue at the European Patent Office. The EPO has revoked the patent, but Barco has appealed against this.
Systems Contractor News received this response from Barco:
"The verdict in the Netherlands is related to an infringement dispute in the Netherlands on one older patent of ClickShare which has been invalidated by the European Patent Office end of 2021. Related to this particular patent, there is still an ongoing procedure running with the European Patent office, where Barco is appealing the revocation of this particular EU patent.
"The impact of this verdict is minimal. The ClickShare portfolio has evolved significantly over the last decade as well as Barco’s patent portfolio related to wireless presentation and conferencing. Today, Barco has obtained more than 60 granted patents on various unique capabilities of ClickShare in major jurisdictions like EU, U.S. and China. The patents cover a broad range of innovative wireless presentation and conferencing features, underlining ClickShare’s simplicity and ease of use.
"Barco continues to closely monitor the wireless presentation and conferencing market and will enforce its intellectual property rights against companies copying ClickShare’s unique features."
