(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

On 6 March 2008, the German authorities raided 51 exhibitor stands at CeBit, the German information technology fair, in a search for goods suspected of infringing patents.

The Hanover police stated that the reason for this action in which about 180 officials from the police, customs and prosecutor offices took part, was "criminal complaints by the holders of patent rights in the run-up to CeBit," that have increased during years.

The officials took away a number of electronic goods and documents including cell-phones, flat-screen monitors, navigation devices, and digital picture frames. Out of the 51 raided booths, 24 were from China, 15 were from Taiwan or Hong Kong, nine were from Germany, and the rest from Poland, the Netherlands, and Korea. Most of patents in questions were related to devices that had MP3, MP4, or digital audio and video functions, DVD players and copiers and blank CDs and DVDs.

The action is also probably due to the Italian firm Sisvel, which pursues breaches of audio compression patents and which has filed complaints in Hanover after having monitored the fair for some years. "We help patent proprietors to obtain royalties for their intellectual property," said Giustino de Sanctis, chief executive of Audio MPEG of the US Sisvel unit.

During the raid, twenty people were ordered to pay a security deposit 1 000 or 500 euros each and, under the German law, those found guilty will face fines or prison up to five years.

Police raid 51 CeBIT stands over suspected piracy (6.03.2008)
http://www.eetimes.com/rss/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206902340&c...

Patent police raid booths at CeBit trade show (6.03.2008)
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9887955-7.html?tag=newsmap

German police: 51 accused of product piracy at CeBIT (6.30.2008)
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/190585,german-police-51-accuse...