Editing Senseo (section)

==Patent disputes==
A [[European Patent Convention|European patent application]] with the aim "to protect an assembly of pad holder and pad",<ref name="birdbird">[[Bird & Bird]], [http://www.twobirds.com/english/pressreleases/BB_helps_win_5_year_European_coffee_war.cfm ''Bird & Bird helps win 5 year European coffee war. Dutch manufacturers triumph in patent battle against Sara Lee relating to Senseo coffee system.''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311175904/http://www.twobirds.com/english/pressreleases/BB_helps_win_5_year_European_coffee_war.cfm |date=2007-03-11 }} Press Release, August 31, 2006. Retrieved on September 3, 2006.</ref> i.e. the Senseo coffee pods, was filed on September 30, 1998, by the Dutch firm "Sara Lee/DE N.V."<ref name="register">{{EPO Register|appno=98203309|patno=0904717|patent=yes}}</ref> The [[European Patent Office]] granted {{Cite patent|country=EP|number=0904717}} on July 11, 2001.<ref name="register"/> The European patent took force in a number of Contracting States of the [[European Patent Convention]], including Belgium.

=== Dispute in Belgium ===
On February 20, 2004, the [[Trial court|Court of First Instance]] of [[Antwerp]], Belgium, ruled in a [[lawsuit]] between three Belgian coffee vendors, [[Naamloze vennootschap|N.V.]] Fort Koffiebranderij, [[S.A. (corporation)|S.A.]] Cafés Liégeois and N.V. Beyers Koffie, versus Philips and Douwe Egberts over the European patent, and decided that the other coffee vendors were allowed to produce and market coffee pods that fit the Senseo. The Senseo creators had used their patent to get an injunction against the marketing of coffee pods by other coffee brands, and those others replied by seeking a declaratory judgment of non-[[patent infringement|infringement]]. {{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}

One consideration the Belgian judge offered for the ruling is that coffee pods already existed. That ruling ended the Senseo coffee pod monopoly, and following that ruling, practically every coffee vendor in the [[Benelux]] countries started production of coffee pods. The Antwerp ruling affects the patents on the pods, but does not affect the patents on the Senseo machine itself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=ANP |date=2006-08-31 |title=Douwe Egberts verliest octrooi op Senseo-koffiepads |url=https://www.nu.nl/economie/815092/douwe-egberts-verliest-octrooi-op-senseo-koffiepads.html |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=nu.nl |language=nl}}</ref>

An appeal in court changed this patent matter, and the new judgement was that the other coffee makers were infringing on the European patent in Belgium.<ref>[http://www.vanbaelbellis.com/files/BE%2012-05-105925A.pdf "Douwe Egberts Regains Monopoly to Commercialise Coffee Pads for its Senseo Coffee Machines"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213829/http://www.vanbaelbellis.com/files/BE%2012-05-105925A.pdf |date=2007-09-27 }}, Van Bael & Bellis on Belgian Business Law, volume 2005, No. 12, page 7</ref>

=== Revocation by the European Patent Office ===
In the meantime, the European patent was [[Opposition procedure before the European Patent Office|opposed before the European Patent Office]] by a number of companies including Kraft Foods<ref name="register"/> and, on August 30, 2006, Sara Lee's {{Cite patent|country=EP|number=0904717}} covering the Senseo pads was completely revoked on [[Appeal procedure before the European Patent Office|appeal]] by the European Patent Office.<ref name="birdbird"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-09-17 |title=Simmons grinds out Kraft win in Sara Lee coffee pod patent dispute |url=https://www.thelawyer.com/simmons-grinds-out-kraft-win-in-sara-lee-coffee-pod-patent-dispute-2/ |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=The Lawyer {{!}} Legal insight, benchmarking data and jobs |language=en-GB}}</ref> Suzanne Rotteveel, spokeswoman for Sara Lee in the Netherlands, said: 
{{quote|We're very disappointed since we invested a lot of time, energy and money. It's disappointing when you are not able to regain a part of that investment. (...) what this ruling means is that we no longer have protection for our patent in Europe.<ref>Stephanie Bodoni, [https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=SLE:US&sid=as5PWfruXg7c ''Sara Lee Loses EU Patent on Coffee Pads for Philips's Senseo''], Bloomberg, August 1, 2006. Retrieved on September 3, 2006.</ref>}}