[JURIST] The Mannheim Regional Court [official website, in German] on Friday dismissed a complaint by patent assertion entity IPCom against Apple [corporate websites]. The suit alleged [Reuters report] USD $2.1 billion in damages against Apple for infringement of European patent EP1841268 [text, in German], which manages access to overloaded wireless communication channels. Although the European Patent Office [official website] has upheld IPCom’s patent [PC World report] on the technology in response to numerous challenges, Apple, along with several other entities including Samsung, Microsoft and Google, allege [industry coalition open letter] that patent assertion entities (so-called “patent trolls”) are presenting an increasing problem in Europe which could be exacerbated [Foss Patents report] by shortcomings in the rules of procedure for the Unified Patent Court [official website].

Apple has recently been party to a number of lawsuits regarding patent infringement. In January a federal judge in California ruled [JURIST report] that Samsung infringed on Apple’s patented word recommendation technology. Earlier that month a federal appeals court ruled [JURIST report] that Apple did not infringe on any of Google’s Motorola Mobility patents in the creation of the iPhone. In December South Korea’s Soul Central District Court dismissed [JURIST report] a claim by Samsung which sought to ban the sale of certain Apple products. In November a US jury awarded Apple $290.45 million [JURIST report] following a re-trial on damages.