Dec 22 2006
TomTom Wins US Lawsuit Brought by Garmin
Concord, MA - December 22, 2006 – TomTom, Inc. announced today that United States District Judge Barbara B. Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin granted summary judgment ending the year long legal battle with Garmin Corp. and Garmin LTD.
Garmin had brought this litigation against TomTom asserting 5 core patents. The decision finds that all five Garmin patents asserted against TomTom in the lawsuit are either invalid or not infringed by TomTom’s popular line of navigation products.
Harold Goddijn, CEO of TomTom said; “We are pleased with the recognition of the Wisconsin court that this was not a valid case. We did not start this fight and tried to convince Garmin that the case did not have merit. Garmin has spent considerable amounts of money and manpower to try and stop TomTom making inroads into the US market. The net result is that many of their claims were invalidated. We are hopeful that Garmin will return to competing in the marketplace instead of wasting resources on litigation.”
Garmin recently filed yet another patent infringement case in Texas regarding patent number 7062378. TomTom believes that this case is also without merit and urges Garmin to focus on developing the market.
TomTom has a strong track record of innovation and leading edge engineering and has been strengthening its patent portfolio considerably.
The original TomTom GO, launched in March 2004 is widely recognized as the world’s first mass market navigation product. Frost & Sullivan gave its 2006 Automotive Telematics & Infotainment Product of the Year Award to TomTom for its TomTom GO range of products – "This range has revolutionised the automotive sector, particularly the aftermarket, while firmly establishing TomTom as the undisputed market leader among competing portable navigation systems. The introduction of the TomTom GO in 2004 fundamentally transformed the in-car infotainment systems aftermarket into a billion-dollar industry." TomTom has now shipped in excess of 6 million navigation devices and is the world’s undisputed leader in terms of volume. TomTom’s latest product, the TomTom ONE, has been selected as ‘Best Buy’ by a leading US consumer organisation.
