ip fray

IEEE patent policy mess reaches Unified Patent Court: NETGEAR’s Hail Mary against Huawei in WiFi 6 #FRAND case It's a SEPtacular week with a bunch of settlements and a pair of major SEP/FRAND hearings. Netgear may or may not have a patent exhaustion defense with respect to some of the accused products, but its other defenses appeared rather weak at today's trial in the Munich Local Division. The IEEE's temporary aberration of trying to restrict patent rights (2015 policy, superseded in 2023) and the history of negative letters of assurance during that period are a historic fact, but it does not appear likely that Netgear will prevail on a contract-based FRAND defense, especially considering that Huawei explicitly rejected the 2015 FRAND terms and never pledged any patents on that basis. This is probably a good case for the UPC to give some guidance on FRAND without a need to reach all of the potentially tricky issues relating to EU SEP case law, given that Huawei's licensing track record should overcome the applicable standard while Netgear's tactics raise questions. Panel: Presiding Judge Dr. Matthias Zigann, Judge Tobias Pichlmaier, Judge Edger Brinkman (The Hague) and Technically Qualified Judge Patrice Vidon. Lead counsel for Huawei: Clifford Chance's Dr. Tobias J. Hessel (technical merits) and Braun-Dullaeus Pannen Emmerling's Dr. Friedrich Emmerling, and Bird & Bird's Christian Harmsen (non-technical). Lead counsel for Netgear: Freshfields's Dr. Stephan Dorn (with German patent litigation legend Dr. Frank-Erich Hufnagel arguing some non-technical defenses) and Samson & Partner's Dr.-Ing. Cletus von Pichler. https://lnkd.in/dHkuSbMN

SEPtacular week also sees three major video patent license deals settling disputes: Nokia-HP, Access Advance LLC with HP and TCL https://lnkd.in/dYMi3cTh

Patent enforcement against LEDs used in automotive lighting launched in Unified Patent Court and Munich I Regional Court: Nichia Corporation v. Endrich Group (Dominant Opto Technologies Sdn Bhd partner) One patent asserted in UPC's Dusseldorf LD (panel: Presiding Judge Ronny Thomas, Judge Dr. Bérénice Thom, Judge Mojca Mlakar) and two in the Munich I Regional Court. Nichia has a significant track record in LED patent enforcement including a win over ASUS a few years ago. Nichia is represented by Taylor Wessing's Roland Küppers, Endrich by HOYNG ROKH MONEGIER's Dr. Martin Köhler. https://lnkd.in/gYD9Y-ed

ZTE Corporation's response to Lenovo's UK SEP lawsuit first reported by ip fray confirms that ZTE wants royalties from Lenovo, and shows they actually wanted to resolve any FRAND dispute in China. Lenovo then launched a pre-emptive strike in the UK. ZTE says it respects the UK action, which is a smart thing to say with a view to the UK judiciary, but it's clear they don't consider the UK the appropriate forum for that SEP dispute between two companies.

October 25-31, 2024 will go down in history as the most intense flurry of #FRAND news in any seven-day period to date. A host of major settlements, a new dispute that surfaced in the UK, the first UPC FRAND trial after which there will likely have to be a decision, and an appellate hearing at which DG COMP (represented by outside counsel) speaks. ip fray has apparently been first to break the news on each of the settlements except InterDigital-OPPO (where the article went live within minutes of the first report) and on the new dispute.

Two more SEP settlements! Access Advance LLC has signed license agreements with HP, which settles that Dolby Laboratories v. HP litigation that would have gone to trial in the Unified Patent Court next June (Dusseldorf LD} as well as a U.S. state lawsuit by HP against Access Advance in Massachusetts, and with TCL, which means there won't be a Chinese court decision on a pool rate in this case.

This is SEP Settlement Season! The latest: Nokia and HP. Just announced. From the press release: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with HP which recognizes Nokia’s leadership in video and multimedia technologies and our decades-long investments in R&D.” (Arvin Patel) Previously announced today: InterDigital, Inc. and OPPO. Settlements on Friday: Panasonic with Xiaomi Technology and OPPO.

OPPO’s next settlement: license agreement with InterDigital, Inc. after almost three years of litigation If OPPO also settled the standard-essential patent dispute with VoiceAge EVS, it could become an option to return to the German market. But some resellers, particularly major carriers, may not be enthusiastic about a brand that left the market (after resellers had also invested in its brand recognition). https://lnkd.in/dvXUSX79

Microsoft calling out Google's astroturfing. In my observation, the European Commission is part of the problem because even when the EC is alerted to astroturfing (example: ACT | The App(le) Association), it invites those organizations to its events. That reflects unfavorably on "Brussels" and leads to unnecessary confusion in EU policy debates. https://lnkd.in/dhqvE6Ct

Supercomputer firm ParTec AG sues NVIDIA in Unified Patent Court, seeks 18-country #patent injunction against #AI chip giant; previously sued Microsoft in U.S. The UPC has its first major AI-related patent infringement case. This is also the first time for the world's most valuable corporation to be sued in the UPC. The case was filed with the Munich Local Division. ParTec's CEO Bernhard Frohwitter is well-known in the IP community. Lawyers from four firms are presenting ParTec and its licensing agent BF exaQC AG: - lead counsel: IPCGS's Dr. Roman Sedlmaier (attorney-at-law) and patent attorney Jan Gigerich - KRIEGER MES's attorney-at-law Axel Verhauwen - Dörries Frank-Molnia & Pohlman Patentanwälte Rechtsanwälte PartG mbB's patent attorney David Molnia - Frohwitter Intellectual Property Counselors' patent attorney Mathias Himmelsbach https://lnkd.in/dsenG7pk