German police raiding CeBIT, wiping out infringing kiosks

Talk about a royal buzzkill. It seems like several demonstrators at CeBIT are having their parties cut way short by German officials, as local customs and police offers have "confiscated products from the stand of at least one exhibitor on suspicion the devices infringed on MPEG audio patents." Currently, the authorities wouldn't divulge exactly which companies are getting nailed for patent infringement, but they did insinuate that most of the products in question made issue with "a portfolio of patents" that primarily focused on "MP3 players, MPEG2-compliant set-top-boxes, DVB satellite receivers, PDAs, and computer sound boards." It was stated that Mele Digital Technology was "targeted" and could be facing the stiff arm of the law, and while we certainly feel for those affected by bogus patent filings, this certainly isn't the first time a company has been embarrassingly interrupted while plugging its product line at a major trade show. Note to vendors: it's probably not in your best interest to bring along products that contravene with an outstanding patent, capiche?

[Kev50027 @ Mar 17th 2007 12:00AM]

This is absolutely insane. Honestly, whoever is behind this needs to be shot. You make a legal case in a damn court, not a trade show.

[kingofwale @ Mar 17th 2007 12:06AM]

absolutely thuggery at its best. Sue them in court, don't bring the police in during a trade show to make threats.

you know what this will lead to? 100 years of no tech show in Germany, why to screw your tech-savvy citizens.

for shame

[Andrew Jones @ Mar 17th 2007 12:22AM]

The thing that gets me the most isn't the thuggery or the rampant lawsuits. It isn't the stifling of innovation. It's not the use of police forces to make a private point.
Where were these people 6 years ago, when MP3 became the de facto standard for spreading media on the internet? Where were they when WinAmp was king of all it surveyed? Where were they in the days of Napster?
If these companies are so savvy on upholding their intellectual property, WHY didn't they make their point before it was believed that MP3 was a community standard? A royalty free standard?

It seems so obvious to me that these companies are in it for a buck. They sat idly by while the rest of the world happily consumed 'their' product, reserving the right to sue anybody they wished for a time that 'MP3' is synonymous with digital music.

[Mike D @ Mar 17th 2007 12:22AM]

didn't this happen to sandisk at another show? gotta love the new patent inforcement, maybe they'll make it happen at every show! it'd be great its like an event "yay! now we get to find out what we WON'T get to have!"

[James @ Mar 17th 2007 12:36AM]

well, I'll say it again, Germany sucks these days. Oh, wait, they sucked in the old days, too.

[Leo @ Mar 17th 2007 12:37AM]

Time to move CeBIT to Sweden.

[Gr1zz @ Mar 17th 2007 1:04AM]

Agreed, unless they were warned, this is seriousally unprofessional of the accuser.

[js @ Mar 17th 2007 1:37AM]

*insert techno-Nazi comment here*

[Kev50027 @ Mar 17th 2007 1:55AM]

This has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Germany.

[Gaines @ Mar 17th 2007 2:25AM]

Right. Nothing to do with Germany...except the GERMAN police/officials...so what was your point again?

Either they are responsible for their actions or they're pansies...or both.

[Kev50027 @ Mar 17th 2007 2:30AM]

Look, this happened in the U.S. too at CES, so don't blame Germany. If you blame anyone, blame France. Just because France sucks.

[Gaines @ Mar 17th 2007 2:40AM]

Don't get me wrong, I blame the US more than anybody! The US (where I reside by the way) is a bully and throws it's weight around to serve the corporations that own the government officials.

[Deezee @ Mar 17th 2007 4:17AM]

Damn Germany has some scary lookin cops. They look like cyborgs.

[John DQ @ Mar 17th 2007 4:23AM]

Well, since this is an unrelated picture starting with an English and an Austrian police officer in front, I think you have to blame Engadget for a xenophobic piece of propaganda. If I am not mistaken that photo was taken in Berlin and not Hanover. It might be taken during soccer world cup last year.

The "raids" weren't even carried out by uniform wearing police. And for sure not by an English bobby.

[Ronald Smith @ Mar 17th 2007 5:15AM]

Are you allowed to say "Nazi" in Germany?

[panzer_V @ Mar 17th 2007 6:05AM]

lol... Patent the end of western large corporation. Like i still can't believe those goon won against Microsoft for 1.5billion dollars in fine. Which is crazy since that company never knew they had the patent to begin with and when they found out they went on suing sprig.

[tekdroid @ Mar 17th 2007 8:23AM]

More FLAC needed?
More Vorbis?

http://www.vorbis.com
http://flac.sourceforge.net

[Major Malfunction @ Mar 17th 2007 11:11AM]

Damn those people for protecting their works, everything should be free, because we know that only the kindness of peoples hearts makes the world go around, not the spending of billions of dollars in the research and development of new products and services, the employment of millions of peoples around the world, and so on. Thats right, giving it out breeds competition, which breeds innovation which of course innovators will recoup via the goodness of the hearts of consumers who want everything FOR FREE! That will put food on my table, and allow my family to go to school so they too can expect everything to be given to them for free! I don't think I should pay for the degrees received in my family because all knowledge should be free.

YIPPIE! WE ARE living in the times of the Starfleet Academy! W00T!

pahleez

[Anthony @ Mar 17th 2007 11:52AM]

How stupid, this is so wasteful