German Police Raid 51 CeBIT Stands Over Patent Claims

LeCaddie writes "Last week German investigators raided 51 exhibitor stands at CeBIT, the German information technology fair in Hanover, looking for goods suspected of infringing patents. Some 183 police, customs officers, and prosecutors raided the fair on Wednesday and carried off 68 boxes of electronic goods and documents including cellphones, navigation devices, digital picture frames, and flat-screen monitors. Of the 51 companies raided, 24 were Chinese. Most of the patents concerned were related to devices with MP3, MP4, and DVB standard functions for digital audio and video, blank CDs, and DVD copiers, police said." In the US there are no criminal penalties associated with patents, and such a raid could not be conducted, especially in the absence of a court ruling of infringement.

Comments

very, very dangerous

[rice_burners_suck]

This is ridiculous! For Germany to go raiding an event in this manner borders on thoughtcrime enforcement a la George Orwell's 1984. Next thing you know, they'll raid peoples' homes by random in search of expired medicines, unhealthy junk food, or materials that don't support the latest president. This sort of thing is dangerous and the German people cannot permit this to continue.

Somehow I get the impression they want it to die

[Opportunist]

The CBit has been suffering from losing exhibitors for years now. MS quitted, Sun afaik too. What kept them afloat was Chinese companies that tried to get a foot into the market.

Large companies prefer to host their own shows. Smaller companies realized that it's cheaper and about as efficient to use the internet to reach out to prospecting customers and resellers.

Now, I'm fairly sure this is the last CBit.