In the increasingly connected Car, the carmaker also use patents to chip manufacturers such as Broadcom. Of these calls now from Volkswagen for alleged patent infringement a billion dollars, as the mirror reported. Otherwise, the wool, the American supplier of the production of several variants of the VW-models Golf, Passat, Touran and Tiguan as well as various models of Audi and Porsche-of-court stop.
The semiconductor manufacturer has submitted according to the magazine, in Munich and Mannheim patent lawsuit against the Volkswagen group. It is about 18 patents of the US company, which uses VW in navigation and entertainment systems of several car models. A VW spokesman confirmed to the mirror that Broadcom has filed lawsuits in connection with patent issues. To the current procedure, he did not want to comment.
In the U.S., Broadcom is also against Toyota and Panasonic. There, the chip group had already filed a patent lawsuit against the two companies.
As the mirror continues to write, the affected car manufacturers under high pressure to agree with the chip group, before the courts decide. This could bring the use of the corresponding semiconductor preliminary and, therefore, the automobile production to a Halt. The auto industry has complained for some time that patent exploiters would exploit the legal system to demand excessive licensing fees.