Our company history

History

For more than 80 years the name Papst is closely linked with the protection and licensing of intellectual property. Hermann Papst (1902 - 1981) was an imaginative engineer and inventor. Already at the early age of 17 he registered his first patent for the construction of an electric pendulum clock. He earned his first money as an entrepreneur with royalties for patents for a loudspeaker system. All in all, he created inventions that led to over 400 patents of his own.

His patents covered such diverse fields as electric outer rotor motors, combustion engines, diesel direct injection, glass fiber production, airship systems and many more. In the 1940s Hermann Papst established a “Commercial enterprise for the production of outer rotor motors” which was the origin of Papst-Motoren GmbH & Co. KG. This medium-sized company, which today carries the name of ebm-papst St. Georgen GmbH & Co. KG, produces electric motors and cooling fans. In addition to the personal intellectual property rights of Hermann Papst, approximately 600 other company-owned patents and patent applications of Papst-Motoren GmbH & Co. KG existed at the beginning of the 1990s. In 1992 Georg Papst founded PAPST LICENSING. Since then PAPST LICENSING has successfully licensed patents.

Our founder

Georg Papst 
Certified engineer (University of Applied Sciences), managing director and co-owner

Georg Papst (1935- 2012) was born as the son of the electrical engineer and inventor Hermann Papst (1902–1981). In 1958 he finished his studies of electrical engineering in Karlsruhe (Germany) as a certified engineer (University of Applied Sciences) and joined the company of his father, Papst Motoren KG in St. Georgen in the Black Forest. He and his brother Günter assumed control of the company Papst-Motoren GmbH & Co. KG as managing directors and co-owners in the mid 1960’s.

As technical director of the company Georg Papst took a leading role in the development and growth of Papst-Motoren. Several new electric motors, cooling fans and drives were developed and successfully marketed under his management. Georg Papst himself is named as inventor on more than 120 patents. Under his decisive leadership the production sites in Spaichingen, Newport, Rhode Island (United States) and Singapore were built up. Due to pressure from the banks he and his co-owning siblings had to sell the company to Elektrobau Mulfingen (ebm) in 1992.

Immediately after the sale of Papst-Motoren, Georg Papst founded PAPST LICENSING GmbH with domicile in Spaichingen, which in 1993 acquired the patent portfolio of Papst-Motoren GmbH & Co. KG of approximately 600 patents and patent applications. Therefrom Georg Papst established a worldwide operating patent licensing company specialized in the monetization of infringed patents. In 2002, the company moved to St. Georgen in the Black Forest. During the 19 years in which Georg Papst lead his company PAPST LICENSING GmbH & Co. KG, he travelled countless times to Japan, Taiwan, Korea, the United States and many countries in Europe for negotiations with patent infringers. Although he always preferred to settle patent disputes by way of negotiation, Georg Papst was nonetheless always ready, too, to defend his intellectual property in court.

Timeline

1992
1992

1992

Formation of PAPST LICENSING GmbH in Spaichingen

1999
1999

1999

Change of the company form into PAPST LICENSING GmbH & Co. KG

73 License agreements

2000
2000

2000

Lawsuit filed against IBM Corp. in a U.S. District Court,

92 License agreements

2002
2002

2002

Relocation of PAPST LICENSING to St. Georgen in the Black Forest

License agreements with Seagate Technology LLC, Seagate Technology International, and Matsushita
Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

2003
2003

2003

Lawsuit filed against Western Digital Corporation in a U.S. District Court

114 License agreements

2004
2004

2004

Settlement with Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd

2005
2005

2005

License agreement with IBM Corporation and Western Digital Corporation

2006
2006

2006

Victory against Minebea Co. Ltd. through final judgment by U.S. Federal District Court in Washington, D.C.

2007
2007

2007

Settlement with Seagate Technology, Maxtor Corporation, and Quantum Corporation

Final settlement with Minebea Co., Ltd.

License agreement with Pentax Corporation

Over 150 license agreements

2008
2008

2008

Patent infringement complaints against Canon Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Eastman Kodak Company, Nikon Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., JVC Company, Ricoh Company Ltd., Konica Minolta Photo Imaging Inc. and Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. in various US District Courts.

License agreements with Casio Inc., Ricoh Company Ltd., Konica Minolta Photo Imaging Inc., Coby Electronics Corporation, and AsusTech Computer Inc.

2009
2009

2009

License agreement with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

2010
2010

2010

Patent infringement complaint against Toll Collect GmbH

2011
2011

2011

Acquisition of patents relating to multihole abrasives

Settlement with TollCollect GmbH

License agreement for multihole abrasives with SAIT Abrasivi S.p.A.

2012
2012

2012

License agreement for multi-hole abrasives with Saint-Gobain Abrasives GmbH, sia Abrasives Industries AG, and 3M Company

License agreements concerning car door hinges

Investment in Latvian with patent company concerning software protection against unauthorized use

2013
2013

2013

License agreement for multi-hole abrasives with Abra On s.r.l, and 3M

Acquisition of patents relating to fuel injectors

2015
2015

2015

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

PAPST LICENSING Digital Camera Patent Litigation

Opinion and Judgment in favor of PAPST LICENSING

2016
2016

2016

License agreement with HP Inc.

2017
2017

2017

License agreements with Huawei, LG Electronics, Olympus, and ZTE

2019
2019

2018

Jury Verdict in favor of Papst Licensing in the matter of Papst Licensing GmbH & Co. KG vs. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Tyler, Texas.

2019

2019

Investment company from Latvia and Microsoft Corporation resolve patent infringement action before the regional court in Düsseldorf on mutually satisfactory grounds.

2020
2020

2020

License Agreements with Fujifilm, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, and Nikon
Settlement Agreements with Panasonic, Sanyo, and JVCKENWOOD

2021
2021

2021

License Agreement with Canon
Supporting several minority shareholders of whiteCryption Inc. in the sale of their shares in Zimperium Inc.