Agreement between Bühler and swisca for scales intellectual property dispute

Companies agreed on compensation for the use of Bühler's intellectual property and know-how, which enabled the rapid market entry of swisca.

December 10, 2020

Several long-standing Bühler employees terminated their employment contracts with Bühler in February 2018 and founded the company swisca in September 2018. swisca operates in the market as a competitor of Bühler in certain product segments.

Due to the rapid market entry of swisca, a dispute arose between the parties regarding the use of intellectual property and know-how by swisca. The parties had different views on this matter and the facts of the case were subject to legal proceedings.

Bühler and swisca were able to settle their dispute out of court. swisca and Bühler agreed on how to compensate the use of Bühler's intellectual property and know-how, which enabled the rapid market entry of swisca. The parties agreed not to disclose the settlement.

swisca and Bühler look forward to fair competition after the settlement of their dispute and are convinced that this is in the best interest of customers.

Over 150,000 Bühler scales now in operation

In 2020, the installed base of high-quality, high-precision Bühler scales has surpassed 150,000 units operating in the field. Bühler’s weighing and dosing solutions build on more than 100 years of knowledge. The company consistently collects and analyzes feedback from this enormous installed base worldwide. It has continuously translated these learnings into improvements for existing products and feeds them into new platforms and product generations such as Tubex Pro.

Bühler has unique operational experience throughout different weighing and dosing products and all production environments. For a few years now, Bühler has been coupling this production knowledge with its latest digital solutions enabled through advanced connectivity and its digital platform, Bühler Insights. This makes weighing solutions crucial for plant improvements, allowing for more yield, more traceability and better remote support.

“For us, this is only the next step to further enhance the most comprehensive and value-driven weighing and dosing products and services in our industry,” said Johannes Wick, CEO Bühler Grains & Food.