News & Analysis
German customs raid Hyundai at Berlin's IFA, say reports
9/1/2008 8:59 AM EDT
A German court had ruled that Hyundai and other East Asian and European firms were marketing unlicensed patented technology at IFA and authorized 69 raids, a spokesman for Berlin's customs investigation office said.
"Hyundai had the chance today to show us that it had paid for the licenses — then we would have gone. But that was not the case. They could not prove they had paid so we took the devices away," Reuters quoted spokesman Norbert Scheidhauer as saying.
According to Reuters, Scheidhauer said he was not permitted to name other firms affected, but said that around 170 televisions, 140 MP3 music players, 21 mobile phones and 57 DVD recorders had been seized at IFA so far.
"This year is the biggest operation that customs investigators have had to carry out," he said. Similar but smaller raids have taken place at other German technology fairs such as Hanover's Cebit in recent years.
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