Microsoft and Bardehle Pagenberg Pull Back Win in Zoe Life Infringement Dispute

Microsoft has now achieved a win in the dispute over data transmission technology. Initially, the German Federal Court of Justice had confirmed the patent as belonging to plaintiff Zoe Life Technologies. However, the Regional Court of Munich recently dismissed the infringement claim.

Zoe Life Technology is an investor and owner of EP 11 26 674 for a “method and device to present data to a user”, originally filed by Ravenpack. The patent protects a technique for secure data transmission between the cloud and user. It is used, for example, in one of Zoe Life’s programmes for stock traders.

In October 2021, the German Federal Court of Justice confirmed the validity of the German part of the German part of the EP 674 (DE 600 31 088.4) in the second instance of a nullity suit brought by Microsoft.

Power of three

Zoe Life believes that Microsoft’s Azure Access Control and its successor Azure Active Directory infringe three claims of EP 674. As a result, the investor sued the US company at Munich Regional Court (case ID: 7 O 5529/16).

However, the court of first instance has now dismissed the action. The judges did not consider the three claims of the patent-in-suit to be infringed.

Meanwhile, since the patent has now expired, the dispute only concerns retrospective damages. Zoe Life, which acquired the patent from data analytics platform Ravenpack, also invests in numerous start-ups. An appeal against the judgment is possible.