Hytera Communications, this week announced that the Federal Court of Australia has dismissed half of Motorola Solutions, Inc’s copyright and patent infringement allegations against Hytera in a judgment delivered on December 23, 2022. The legal proceedings commenced by Motorola Solutions relate to certain Hytera legacy DMR radios, and software formerly used in selected models of Hytera DMR radios. In the proceedings, Motorola made allegations of both patent infringement and copyright infringement.  

According to Hytera, the Court dismissed Motorola's allegations of patent infringement in respect of two of the three patents relied on by Motorola. Further, one of those patents was also found to be invalid.  

While the Court upheld Motorola's allegation of patent infringement in respect of the third patent, the Judge held that infringing conduct ceased in November 2019, by which time Hytera had upgraded its legacy devices to remove the infringing feature. The Court also held that Motorola was not entitled to additional damages in respect of patent infringement.

The Court upheld Motorola’s allegation of copyright infringement in relation to 6 of the 11 computer programs in the issue.

Hytera said that they currently are reviewing the judgment and considering available options, including possible grounds for appeal in respect of the copyright infringement findings. The legal processes may take two or more years to finally resolve.  

In light of certain matters raised in the legal proceedings, Hytera has enhanced its corporate governance and added new policies and procedures related to intellectual property and the onboarding of new employees. In addition, Hytera has rolled out updated software and firmware to the marketplace, including for legacy devices that were at issue in this proceeding.