Tesla hit with multiple patent lawsuit over wireless tech in cars
Intellectual Ventures accuses Tesla of infringing a dozen wireless communication patents | Suit follows litigation against Volvo last year.
Intellectual Ventures has accused Tesla of infringing multiple patents it holds covering wireless technology in vehicles, in a lawsuit filed at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas Waco Division.
In the suit, filed on Friday (April 12), Intellectual Ventures said Tesla had infringed a dozen of its patents, which provide improvements to vehicles' wireless communications.
Elon Musk’s electric car company provides several types of wireless communication system solutions and services to its customers, according to the lawsuit, including Standard Connectivity, Premium Connectivity, and ‘infotainment’ systems which include connectivity features over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
This wireless communication technology could be found “in several Tesla models” throughout the world, including the US, Intellectual Ventures said, also pointing to Tesla’s Autopilot function which it describes as “an advanced driver assistance system”.
The private equity firm alleged Tesla had infringed the following patents: US patent numbers 7,336,805; 9,706,500; 10,292,138; 10,952,153; 8,898,395; 10,136,416; 7,916,180; 9,232,158; 7,181,743; 6,894,639; 11,206,670; and 11,664,889.
Intellectual Ventures’ claims against Tesla included direct infringement, wilful blindness and induced infringement, and it asked the Texas court for damages and costs.
Automakers sued
Founded in 2000, Intellectual Ventures said it had acquired more than 70,000 patents covering “many important inventions of the internet era”.
This was under the leadership of Nathan Myhrvold, formerly CTO of Microsoft.
The firm has previously asserted some of these patents against car manufacturers, including Volvo in 2023.
That lawsuit was referenced in Friday’s suit against Tesla, with Intellectual Ventures telling the court that two of the patents in the litigation overlapped with the patents asserted against Volvo.
On those two patents in the Volvo case, the court was construing claims at a Markman hearing set for May 24, 2024, Intellectual Ventures said.
In 2021, the firm sued General Motors, Toyota and Honda, for alleged infringement of patents related to connectivity in vehicles.
Mark Siegmund of Cherry Johnson Siegmund James is representing Intellectual Ventures in its suit against Tesla, along with a team from Kasowitz Benson Torres of Jonathan Waldrop, Darcy Jones, Marcus Barber, John Downing, Heather Kim, and ThucMinh Nguyen.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox
