Last week, Sun Patent Trust sued Xiaomi in France for infringement of patents claimed to be essential to the LTE-Advanced standard. In its suit, Sun Patent Trust asked French courts to set a global FRAND rate—something that...more
To date, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) has not held a trial involving standard-essential patents (SEPs). However, the new forum’s Mannheim Local Division has now authored its first SEP-specific order in a case between...more
On April 17, 2024, a second Texas jury assessed damages of $142 million against Samsung, more than doubling a previous jury award of $67.5 in a protracted standard essential patent (SEP) litigation brought by G+...more
For years, Apple has resisted taking a license to Optis’ standard-essential patent portfolio covering Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology. However, it is now being reported that Apple committed to enter a global FRAND...more
A Chinese Court recently decided that it has the willingness, and jurisdiction, to set a global licensing rate that is fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (“FRAND”) for standard essential patents (“SEP”). In a dispute...more
12/7/2020
/ China ,
Cross-Licensing Agreement ,
FRAND ,
Injunctions ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Portfolios ,
Patents ,
Standard Essential Patents ,
Telecommunications
Implementer Hold Out -
Another major development in global standard essential patent litigation was handed down today, as the UK Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings that forced an efficient infringer of essential...more
8/27/2020
/ ETSI ,
FRAND ,
Germany ,
Huawei ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Standard Essential Patents ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) ,
UK ,
UK Supreme Court
Germany’s highest court has clearly and emphatically placed SEP implementers on notice that hold-out will not be tolerated, and that implementers must proactively share the burden and obligation to timely achieve a FRAND...more
7/16/2020
/ 5G Network ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
FRAND ,
Germany ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Standard Essential Patents ,
Telecommunications
On Friday, May 1, 2020, Chief Administrative Patent Judge Scott R. Boalick of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) paused all activity in the significant number of PTAB cases remanded to it from the Federal Circuit...more
After its recent ruling in Sisvel’s favor, Germany’s highest court on patent matters is expected to issue a highly favorable and detailed decision for standard-essential patent (SEP) owners seeking to prevent patent...more
This week the en banc Federal Circuit declined to revisit a panel ruling that found the appointment of Administrative Patent Judges (“APJs”) of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) violates the Appointments Clause of...more
When licensing discussions with an intransigent implementer break down, SEP owners face a difficult question: what remedies are available (injunctive relief or damages) in each U.S. court (International Trade Commission and...more
12/24/2019
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FRAND ,
Injunctive Relief ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Joint Policy Statements ,
NIST ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Section 337 ,
Standard Essential Patents ,
USPTO ,
USTR
The adoption of multiple, standardized technologies looms on the horizon. This presents the challenge of balancing innovator’s intellectual property rights with implementer’s desire for fair access to technology. As more...more
11/5/2019
/ China ,
FRAND ,
Germany ,
India ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
IP License ,
Netherlands ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Standard Essential Patents ,
UK Supreme Court
Litigation involving standard-essential patents (“SEPs”) is on the rise. The now longstanding and disturbing impact of efficient infringement by recalcitrant implementers is the predominant cause of the increase. As many...more
Calculating royalty rates as part of a patent dispute often becomes a hotly-disputed issue, where opposing economic theories from expert witnesses are pinned against one another. As a litigant, care must be taken when...more
A recent decision in the Eastern District of Texas should provide standard-essential patent (“SEP”) owners with more clarity and optimism when negotiating SEP licenses. Coming on the heels of Judge Koh’s decision in the FTC’s...more
6/6/2019
/ 5G Network ,
Breach of Contract ,
Ericsson ,
FRAND ,
Good Faith ,
HTC ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Royalties ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Qualcomm ,
Royalties ,
Standard Essential Patents
PanOptis Patent Management, LLC (“PanOptis”) was recently awarded enhanced damages and ongoing royalties as a result of Huawei Technology Co. Ltd. (“Huawei”) infringing five of its patents, four of which were alleged to be...more
3/26/2019
/ Corporate Counsel ,
FRAND ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
International Litigation ,
IP License ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Royalties ,
Patents ,
Royalties ,
Standard Essential Patents
As we mentioned in December, the International Trade Commission issued a notice to review the Final Initial Determination and Recommended Determination issued by Administrative Law Judge Pender in Certain Mobile Electronic...more
3/14/2019
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Apple ,
Competition ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Exclusion Orders ,
Initial Determination (ID) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Manufacturers ,
Monopolization ,
Patent Infringement ,
Public Interest ,
Qualcomm ,
Semiconductors
A recent order from the Northern District of California in AU Optronics Corporation America v. Vista Peak Ventures, LLC, 4:18-cv-04638 (CAND 2019-02-19) (“AU Optronics”), provides further guidance for patent venue analysis...more
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) recently issued a precedential opinion finding that a lower court had improperly incorporated an embodiment from the specification of the asserted patents into the claims....more
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director, Andrei Iancu, recently gave a speech to the American Intellectual Property Law Association where he discussed a new rule proposal aimed at improving the patent amendment process...more
A recent decision by the International Trade Commission (“ITC” or the “Commission”) improves a patent owner’s ability to demonstrate that it possesses a statutorily required “domestic industry” and can therefore obtain relief...more
A recent decision by the International Trade Commission (“ITC” or the “Commission”) improves intellectual property holders’ ability to prove that they have a “domestic industry” and obtain relief for infringement from the...more
7/17/2018
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Capital Expenditures ,
Capital Investments ,
Domestic Industry Requirement ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Manufacturers ,
Manufacturing Equipment ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Research and Development ,
Section 337
Earlier this week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) published a new rule governing when privilege exists for communications between clients and their domestic or foreign patent attorneys and patent...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Aqua Products Inc., v. Matal materially changes the burden of proof associated with the patentability of amended claims during an inter partes...more
Several recent court decisions have shed light on the patent agent privilege, and now the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is seeking to weigh-in on the issue....more