Pioneer sues Garmin over navigation technology

I'd say Pioneer and Garmin aren't best friends anymore...

Pioneer has sued Garmin in Germany on some nav patents.

Now Pioneer is going after Garmin in the U.S. through the International Trade Commission (ITC).

ITC proceedings are very expensive, fast (when compared to patent litigation in Federal Court), and offer the dramatic (some would say draconian) remedy of excluding offending products from entering the U.S.

If Pioneer wins against Garmin before the ITC, one of the remedies the ITC could suggest is the exclusion of unlicensed offending Garmin products from entering the U.S.

That favorable result is perhaps 18 months away, though, and Pioneer has a lot of work to do to get there. At the other extreme, the ITC could find that Pioneer's patents are not infringed by Garmin, or even that Pioneer's patents are unenforceable, so this is not a move to be taken lightly by Pioneer.

You may remember a similar situation where a division of Broadcom went after SiRF through the ITC, claiming SiRF infringed a number of (GPS related) patents. That was in April of 2007. The initial ITC ruling (in August of 2008) was in favor of Broadcom, that certain SiRF GPS chipsets were covered by the patents.

After more wrangling before the ITC, in January of 2009 the ITC issued a limited exclusion order, which SiRF immediately appealed to the Cort of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). That hearing was scheduled for earlier this month (November 2009).

thanks

If Pioneer's claims are unsubstantiated, I say boycott any & everything Pioneer.

I wonder if Garmin has any pattern that Pioneer might infringe upon.

Jeff

I am a Garmin Fan. Why Pioneer getting jealous? They have more products to pay attention on. Leave the GPS field for Garmin.
Jealousy is a disease that we have to live with it