Nyakundi Report notes that on November 21, 2018, Volkswagen reached an out-of-court settlement with U.S. semiconductor maker Broadcom, ending a patent dispute that had escalated into a billion-dollar legal fight, according to a source close to the German carmaker.
The source said the agreement was signed privately and that a court hearing set for Friday was canceled as a result. Volkswagen declined to comment on the settlement, while Broadcom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The dispute had drawn attention after Der Spiegel reported in early November that California-based Broadcom was seeking more than $1 billion from Volkswagen and had threatened to ask for a judicial ban on production of several car models.
Bloomberg first reported the case on Wednesday, and the development came as patent claims by suppliers against manufacturers have become more common as the auto industry’s digital transformation advances.
Reporting by Jan Schwartz; Writing by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Adrian Croft.
