[privacy] /german-police-raiding-cebit-wiping-out-infringing-kiosks/

[Dude VanWinkle]

from: http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/16/german-police-raiding-cebit-wiping-out-infringing-kiosks/

Talk about a royal buzzkill. It seems like several demonstrators at
CeBIT are having their parties cut way short by German officials, as
local customs and police offers have "confiscated products from the
stand of at least one exhibitor on suspicion the devices infringed on
MPEG audio patents." Currently, the authorities wouldn't divulge
exactly which companies are getting nailed for patent infringement,
but they did insinuate that most of the products in question made
issue with "a portfolio of patents" that primarily focused on "MP3
players, MPEG2-compliant set-top-boxes, DVB satellite receivers, PDAs,
and computer sound boards." It was stated that Mele Digital Technology
was "targeted" and could be facing the stiff arm of the law,