On May 20, the District Court of Munich, Germany ruled that if Ford did not resolve the dispute over microchips, it would not be able to produce and sell cars in Germany.
The German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche reported that Ford had built 4G cellular chips in its vehicles, but did not pay patent fees. Ford was sued by the owners of eight 4G mobile communication patents, and the specific company name was not disclosed. Next, Ford can choose to appeal or reach an agreement with the plaintiff in the next few weeks, and the ruling may be enforced within two weeks.
In response, Ford said in an email statement, "this lawsuit is a necessary standard patent license for LTE network. Since we have not received the written opinion of the court, we do not want to comment on this matter at present."
