Gigastorage ruled to pay damages to Philips in DVD patent lawsuit

　Koninklijke Philips N.V. (hereinafter “Philips”) filed a lawsuit with Taiwan IP Court in 2016 to claim that Gigastorage Corporation (hereinafter “Gigastorage”) infringed its DVD patent.  The IP Court awarded Philips TWD10.5 million in damages in the first instance.  Both Philips and Gigastorage appealed this case and Philips increased the claimed damages to TWD1.05 billion, for which the IP Court ruled in the second instance that Gigastorage should pay TWD1,039,500,000 and interest thereof to Philips.  Gigastorage appealed this case to the Supreme Court, and subsequently, this patent lawsuit was remanded back to the IP Court for retrial in 2018.  

　The IP Court adjudicated the retried case on May 14, 2020 as summarized as follows:  The IP Court’s dismissal of Philips’ second claim and the ruling on the motion for provisional execution for that claim and the litigation expenses in the IP Court judgment should be all vacated.  Gigastorage shall pay to Philips TWD409,885,447 and interest thereof accrued at the rate of TWD5 per annum from June 25, 2016 through the date when the awarded amount is paid in full.  Philips’ and Gigastorage’s appeal are dismissed.  Gigastorage shall bear 39% of the litigation expenses incurred in the first and second instance proceedings and the third instance proceedings before the case was remanded (except for the expenses for the parts that have become final), while Philips shall bear the remaining litigation expenses.  (Released 2020.05.15) 

/CCS