Munich court finds against Netflix in patent dispute with Broadcom

A Munich court has found in favour of chipset manufacturer Broadcom in a dispute with streaming giant Netflix over the latter’s alleged infringement of a patent related to HEVC/H.265 video coding.

The District Court of Munich ruled that Netflix is infringing the relevant Broadcom patent and issued an injunction requiring Netflix to cease and desist all further infringement in Germany.

Since 2018, Netflix and Broadcom have been engaged in a patent dispute whereby Broadcom has accused Netflix of infringing US, German, and Dutch patents through its provision of its video streaming service.

The European patent at issue in this ruling, EP 2 575 366 covers features of digital video processing often used in HEVC/H.265 video coding.

The court, on September 19, ruled that Netflix is infringing the ‘366 Patent’ through its transmission of HEVC video, which Netflix employs to provide Ultra HD content to its users.

The court-ordered injunction prohibits Netflix from providing certain video streaming services utilizing Broadcom’s patented technology.

“Netflix has built a robust video streaming business that relies on Broadcom’s patented technology to deliver content to its users, and Broadcom is pleased to see this recognized by the German court,” said Mark Terrano, vice president and general manager of Broadcom’s intellectual property and licensing division.