Patent dispute ended: Settlement between Compleo Charging Solutions and S.A.F.E.
Agreement improves legal certainty when implementing calibration law in the e-mobility sector: Patents EP 2 532 368 B1 and EP 2 755 846 B1 can be used freely worldwide in the future,
Munich, Berlin, Dortmund, June 10, 2024 - Compleo Charging Solutions and S.A.F.E. e.V. have reached a settlement at the Federal Patent Court in Munich. As part of this agreement, it was decided that patents EP 2 532 368 B1 and EP 2 755 846 B1 should be freely usable worldwide in future. The agreement in the patent dispute ensures increased legal certainty and reliability in the implementation of calibration law requirements for charging infrastructure, which benefits the entire e-mobility sector. Compleo will provide a corresponding declaration free of charge in response to requests for confirmation of release. The company is deliberately foregoing a possible appeal to jointly advance the mass market for e-mobility.
"An appeal is far from our minds. Compleo has deliberately decided that the industry can use the patents free of charge to make e-mobility in Germany simpler and more transparent on a large scale. This decision is part of our reorientation as a company," explains Jörg Lohr, CEO of Compleo Charging Solutions. "A uniform market is our top priority. There are currently too many functional hurdles and providers are standing in each other's way - this is unnecessary and hinders the progress of electromobility. We are convinced that giving in here shows strength and benefits both sustainability and the entire e-mobility industry."
The patents EP 2 532 368 B1 and EP 2 755 846 B1 belong to a patent family that describes a process that is used in conjunction with transparency software in accordance with the specifications of the Federal Physical and Technical Testing Institute (PTB) for the certification of charging infrastructure in accordance with calibration law. This allows drivers of electric vehicles to compare billing data from charging processes with the signed original data and thus check whether the billing is correct.
As the previous patent holder, Compleo Charging Solutions had considered commercializing the use of the patents by third parties. For S.A.F.E. members, this would have meant that they would no longer have been able to use their charging stations with the transparency software in a legally secure manner without entering into a license agreement with Compleo. S.A.F.E. e.V. then decided to have the legal validity of both patents clarified in court and at the same time initiated the development of an alternative solution that does not infringe the patents. The hearing took place in mid-May 2024 before the Federal Patent Court in Munich and ended with the settlement that has now been reached.
Hauke Hinrichs, first chairman of S.A.F.E. e.V., commented: “It is important that there is now clarity about how the use of the signing process will be handled in the future. All manufacturers of charging systems who have previously used the signing process and transparency software of S.A.F.E. e.V. can now be sure that existing and future systems can be manufactured and operated without additional license costs."
By releasing the patents, Compleo Charging Solutions, a subsidiary of the KOSTAL Group, wants to help further advance electromobility in Germany and Europe. Due to the agreement now reached, manufacturers of charging infrastructure do not have to switch their products to the alternative solution.