Investment firm France Brevets has filed patent infringement lawsuits against LG and HTC in Germany and the US for the use of NFC in their products.

According to an announcement by the French firm, the US lawsuit relates to two patents on “antenna signal amplitude modulation method” and “inductive coupling reader comprising means for extracting a power supply voltage”.

France Brevets describes itself as “the first investment fund fully dedicated to patent promotion and monetisation in Europe”. It was set up in March 2011 and its NFC licensing programme was launched in 2012.

In June last year, the fund launched a patent licensing programme with Inside Secure, the French NFC chipset vendor.

The programme’s function is to make the vendor’s patents available to device manufacturers building products that will support a range of contactless payments, transit, access control, loyalty, ticketing and other services.