Advanced Television

RealD wins Euro-patent battle against Volfoni

April 5, 2019

By Chris Forrester

3D specialists RealD has won a Patent action against German-based Volfoni and its associated companies which protects its IP.

On April 4th, RealD said that the European Patent Office’s (EPO) Opposition Division has upheld the validity of another of its key patents for light-doubling 3D cinema projection systems. As a result, RealD’s European patent that covers triple-beam 3D cinema projection systems (EP2846180) remains in full force.

In a statement RealD said: “RealD announced on December 18, 2017 the filing of a complaint with the District Court in Düsseldorf, Germany, alleging that Volfoni SAS, Volfoni GmbH and CinemaNext Deutschland Gmbh have infringed three of RealD’s European patents by the importation, sale, or offer for sale of the Volfoni SmartCrystal Diamond cinema systems in Germany. In the complaint, RealD requested an injunction banning the sale of the infringing devices and sought financial damages. To date, the EPO has fully reconfirmed the validity of two of RealD’s patents asserted in the German lawsuit and issued a favourable preliminary opinion on the third. The German lawsuit is set for trial in July 2019.”

“RealD invests substantial resources to develop products that result in the best possible customer experience. To continue making such investments, we must protect our intellectual property and are delighted that another decision by the EPO has done just that. We look forward to demonstrating to the Düsseldorf court the infringement of our patents by the Volfoni SmartCrystal Diamond systems,” said Neil Mothew, RealD’s VP/Intellectual Property & Legal Affairs.

Categories: Articles, Regulation