Court Orders Dismissal of IP Suit against BMW over Cruise Control Patent

Plaintiff: Cruise Control Technologies (CCT)

Defendant: BMW

Case Filed: Dec 21, 2012

Case Closed: Feb 07, 2014

Court: Delaware District Court

Patent-in-Suit: US6324463

Cruise Control Technologies (CCT) filed complaint against BMW in litigation alleging infringement of their US patent covering cruise control system for road vehicles that automatically adjusts the vehicle speed to maintain a safe distance from vehicles ahead. The patent entitled ‘Cruise control indicator’ was originally issued to C. Kumar N Patel on November 27, 2001 and expires[i] by May 12, 2019. The patent describes cruise control systems, particularly those which display preset speed information. The technology in this patent provides a significant safety and usability improvement. The ‘463 or Patel patent is currently assigned[ii] to CCT (source: MaxVal’s Assignment Database).

Complaint Summary:

Plaintiff alleged that defendant is using vehicular cruise control products/services that embody the patented invention and cited 740i, 740Li, 750i, 750Li, 760Li, 750i xDrive, and 750Li xDrive vehicles (collectively, the “7 Series Vehicles”) as the infringing products/services. In its Court filing, CCT stated that defendant has committed act of infringement without license or authorization. It also claimed that CCT has suffered monetary damages and is entitled for compensation.

Conclusion:

The parties agreed to end the dispute and reached a settlement. According to the terms of settlement between the parties, CCT filed a stipulation of dismissal, considering which Chief Judge Gregory M. Sleet on Feb 07, ordered dismissal of claims against BMW and counterclaims against CCT with prejudice. Each party will bear its own costs and attorneys’ fees. Further terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Others Cases Filed:

CCT has also asserted the ‘463 patent against a host of other prominent auto manufacturers, including Chrysler, General Motors, Porsche, and Honda.

See 1:12-cv-01754 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.

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[i] Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents

[ii] MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded