Executive Summary
Recently, Hyundai Motor Company won an appeal in a patent infringement litigation against StratosAudio. The decision overturned the trial court’s decision in Hyundai Motor’s favor in a major change of events.
American broadcasting service company StratosAudio provides technology, such as two-way (interactive) advertisements in a media environments. In the past, StratosAudio developed a two-way radio systems together with Hyundai Autonet for a vehicles targeting the North American and European markets. Hyundai Autonet (now Hyundai Mobis) along with Hyundai Motor Company are subsidiaries of Hyundai Motor Group.
At the end of 2020, StratosAudio filed a claim for damages against Hyundai Motor America, claiming that Hyundai Motor Company infringed upon seven of its patents related to systems for transmitting and displaying broadcasts or advertisements while providing in-vehicle infotainment services.
In this lawsuit, StratosAudio targetted the wireless communication systems in a vehicles, the in-vehicle entertainment system enabling Apple CarPlay, and various radio service systems in the United States as infringing products. In the trial court, the trial court decided in favor of StratosAudio, which was financially unfavorable for Hyundai Motor Company.
However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) overruled the trial court and held that “the district court did not properly apply the precedents and the judges abused their discretion,” thus making a decision in favor of Hyundai Motor Company.
Although the litigation proceedings area not yet completely finished, Hyundai Motor Company is in a considerably better position. If the decision of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals(CAFC) is maintained, Hyundai Motor Company will likely avoid financial damages due to patent infringement.