Siemens VDO Automotive Corp. was the U.S. arm of Siemens VDO Automotive AG, the automotive-electronics group of Siemens AG. The business was formed in 2001 by the merger of Siemens Automotive Systems and Mannesmann VDO, was wholly owned by Siemens AG (then listed as SIE/NYSE:SI), and was headquartered in Germany with U.S. operations based in Auburn Hills and Troy, Michigan. Siemens reported that in fiscal 2006 the group had sales of roughly €10 billion and about 53,000 employees at some 130 locations (Automotive News put 2006 global OEM sales at $12.01 billion). Siemens sold the unit to Continental AG in December 2007 for €11.4 billion; it was absorbed as Continental Automotive GmbH and no longer exists as a separate entity.
Products/operations. Siemens VDO was a tier-one supplier of automotive electronics and mechatronics. Its lines covered gasoline and diesel powertrain electronics (including common-rail injection systems), safety and chassis electronics (ABS electronics, airbag and crash sensors), body electronics, and interior/infotainment products such as instrument clusters, radios, navigation and telematics systems. It was an operating company with manufacturing and R&D worldwide, not a licensing entity.
Litigation posture. The tracked data show 1 case as defendant and 0 as plaintiff — the profile of an operating supplier being sued, not an asserting entity. Plaintiff Automotive Technologies International, Inc. (ATI), described in the Stanford NPE database as an individual-inventor-started patent asserter, filed against Siemens VDO and several other suppliers and automakers. The suit was filed in the Eastern District of Michigan (Judge Robert H. Cleland), not a plaintiff-friendly venue like the Eastern District of Texas.
Notable case. Automotive Technologies International, Inc. v. Siemens VDO Automotive Corp. et al., No. 2:06-cv-15756 (E.D. Mich., filed Dec. 27, 2006), consolidated ATI's side-impact sensor patents (U.S. 7,025,379; 7,052,038; 7,070,202; 7,097,201; and 6,850,824) against Siemens VDO, TRW, TK Electronics, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia and Calsonic Kansei. The court's 2009 summary-judgment ruling is reported at 669 F. Supp. 2d 836, and the dispute continued on appeal to the Sixth Circuit (No. 10-2431).