Patent allegedly covering Brazilian standard for caller ID (CLIP) declared null and void by Brazilian Federal Judge: Big victory for the telecom industry, operators and consumers.

Since 2003, the telecom industry in Brazil has been following the lawsuit filed by Ericsson challenging the validity of a Brazilian patent owned by a local non-practicing entity, which allegedly covered caller ID standards and all technologies implementing it in Brazil for fixed and mobile telephony. This week the 9th Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro has decided the case in Ericsson favor, invalidating the patent PI9202624-9. Ericsson has been represented by the team of Licks Attorneys since the beginning of the case.Between the late 90 ́s and early 2000 ́s the patent owner sued all telecom operators in Brazil for patent infringement, seeking USD billions in damages, and started an aggressive media campaign against the telephone services and equipment providers. He claimed they all infringed its patent, in what was one of the major threats to the industry in Brazil and represented the greatest potential in damages to one sector that a patent has ever represented in the country.In September 2003, Ericsson filed a patent invalidity lawsuit, showing that the patent lacked inventive activity and enablement. In view of the importance of the case for the telecommunications industry in Brazil, other companies filed suits after Ericsson, and many different parties intervened in the case.On Oct. 4th, the judge of the 9th Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro agreed that the patent is null and void for lack of inventive activity and enablement was based on the evidence produced by Ericsson in the lawsuit, including several opinions from different experts.The decision is still subject to appeal. Nonetheless, it is an important step to protect the telecommunications industry, the mobile companies and the consumers from the threat that the patent represented.On July 2015, also represented by Licks Attorneys, Ericsson had obtained a declaratory judgement proving its products and services did not infringe patent PI9202624-9.This decisions reassure Licks Attorneys leadership in the telecom litigation in Brazil both on enforcement and invalidity litigation. The firms has an unbeatable score representing clients on the entire spectrum of the patent disputes.