Context: Last year we reported on legendary patent monetizer (“America’s most notorious patent troll” according to the New York Times) Erich Spangenberg’s return to the patent licensing business (December 4, 2024 ip fray article). We mentioned his new predilection for the Unified Patent Court (UPC), also in connection with Donald Trump Jr.’s investment in his company SIM IP (March 20, 2025 ip fray article), and involvement with cases brought by Barcelona-based Ona Patents against Apple and Google in the UPC and a German regional court.
What’s new: An order by the UPC’s Dusseldorf Local Division (LD) dated September 5, 2025 (PDF) mentions the withdrawal of Ona Patents’ lawsuit against Apple on September 1, 2025 and Apple’s consent (along with withdrawal of its revocation counterclaim) on September 3, 2025. A two-day trial in late October has therefore been canceled. As we wrote last year, the patents-in-suit relate to location positioning based on nearby networks (April 24, 2024 ip fray article).
Direct impact: The sole plausible explanation for this pattern is a settlement, and the sole plausible economic net effect is that non-practicing entity Ona Patents is being paid license fees.
Wider ramifications:
- Since Erich Spangenberg’s return to the patent monetization business, this is his first license deal with a major company to have (effectively) become known.
- It is unknown whether Google will opt for a settlement the way Apple did.
- Donald Trump Jr. is known to have invested in two companies seeking patent royalties from Apple: SIM IP (which through Ona Patents is now apparently receiving license fees) and Fintiv (August 15, 2025 ip fray article), a company that has been litigating for years and is still waiting to get paid by Apple.
It could be that Erich Spangenberg has scored another win over Apple this year. SIM IP acquired a haptics patent portfolio worth hundreds of millions of dollars. There is a certain history between the selling patent holder, Ultraleap, and Apple, and a Big Tech was rumored to be bidding for the patents. That Big Tech may have been Apple (February 5, 2025 ip fray article).
Court and counsel
Dusseldorf LD: Presiding Judge Ronny Thomas, Judge Dr. Bérénice Thom, Judge Margot Kokke (The Hague, Netherlands) and Technically Qualified Judge Gérard Myon.
Counsel for Ona Patents: Kather Augenstein’s Dr. Christof Augenstein, Dr. Benedikt Walesch and Dr. Melissa Lutz.
Counsel for counterclaim-defendant Ekahau (the Finnish company that obtained the patent): WBH Wachenhausen patent attorneys Benjamin Bubendorfer and Andreas Rauscher.
Counsel for Apple: Bardehle Pagenberg’s Prof. Tilman Mueller-Stoy and Dr. Tobias Wuttke.