ADB Seeks Injunction Barring HDMI Licensing From Voiding Its License Agreement

Advanced Digital Broadcast, the Swiss-based supplier of HD set-top boxes, residential gateway devices and other products to pay-TV operators worldwide, is seeking a preliminary injunction preventing HDMI Licensing from canceling its license agreement and preventing customs authorities from seizing ADB goods, the company said in a motion filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose. ADB wants the court to set an Aug. 12 motions hearing on the injunction request. ADB moved for the injunction days after its complaint accused HDMI Licensing of “wrongfully” demanding $905,000 in back royalties it doesn’t owe (see 1507010017). The complaint didn’t seek a preliminary injunction, only a court “declaration” that HDMI Licensing “is precluded” from notifying customs that ADB goods “are unauthorized and subject to seizure because they are not.” ADB has argued it has dutifully paid HDMI Licensing the 4 cent-per-unit royalty it owed, but that the licensor is wrongfully demanding 10 cents per unit more on the grounds -- denied by ADB -- that ADB failed to “reasonably” incorporate HDMI trademarks on its product documentation materials. If HDMI Licensing isn't “enjoined” from canceling the license agreement and calling for customs seizures of ADB shipments, ADB “will suffer immediate irreparable harm as it will no longer be able to represent to its customers that it supplies licensed products,” its injunction motion said. “The inability to do so will severely harm the reputation of ADB and the goodwill it has established in the U.S. market and its industry worldwide.” ADB also fears the jobs of its 50 U.S. employees will be “at risk,” it said. HDMI Licensing representatives have declined comment on the case.