Context: U.S. patent licensing firm Adeia has been actively enforcing its portfolio of media patents in jurisdictions across the world. Last month, it added Disney and its Hulu and ESPN subsidiaries to that enforcement campaign when it sued them in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and in a court in Germany (November 5, 2024 ip fray article).
What’s new: Adeia’s efforts are now beginning to show. Today, it announced it has struck a multi-year agreement with Amazon that covers its “media IP portfolio” (December 3, 2024 press release by Adeia).
Direct impact: Another big win for Adeia. The firm’s chief executive has stated: “Amazon plays an immense role in today’s innovation society. We are pleased to include Amazon among our many distinguished customers.” Yesterday, the firm also renewed its media patent licensing agreement with U.S. TV giant Vizio.
Wider ramifications: This comes against the background of an increasingly active video codec patent market, in which Nokia and Amazon have been in a year-long video streaming patent litigation – and in which Nokia was handed a win in Germany a couple of months ago (September 20, 2024 ip fray article).
The deal comes after Adeia has been expanding its patent enforcement efforts, especially in video streaming technologies. One major campaign is against Disney and its subsidiaries Hulu and ESPN, which it has sued in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, a court in Germany and the UPC. Last month, it came to light that one of its UPC actions involved the assertion of its EP1969839 (“An interactive media guidance system having multiple devices”) in the Hague Local Division (LD).
Adeia and Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment but Adeia’s chief executive Paul E. Davis said in a statement today: “Amazon plays an immense role in today’s innovation society. We are pleased to include Amazon among our many distinguished customers.”
The deal comes a day after Adeia also renewed its media IP licensing agreement with Vizio, a major TV maker in the U.S.
It also follows Amazon receiving a major setback in its global litigation against Nokia. In a ruling in September, the Munich I Regional Court’s Seventh Civil Chamber granted Nokia a permanent injunction over its EP2375749 (“System and method for efficient scalable stream adaptation”) patent.
At the time, Nokia’s Chief Licensing Officer New Segments, Arvin Patel, told ip fray:
“The Munich Regional Court in Germany has ruled that Amazon is using Nokia’s patented video-related technologies in its end user streaming devices and is selling them illegally without a license. The Court also found that Nokia has acted fairly in its negotiations with Amazon. We hope that Amazon accepts its obligations and agrees a license on fair terms.”