Wi-Fi 6 injunction in Germany; Lenovo fails to halt Ericsson LatAm suits; Xiaomi and Sharp agree licensing deal; Oppo and Philips patent acquisitions revealed; plus much more
Welcome to the latest edition of the Sisvel Insights weekly round-up, aggregating news stories, analyses and data points affecting the SEP world that have caught our eye over the past seven days
Litigation action in the Wi-Fi 6 SEP space continues to intensify in Germany. Last week, Atlas Global Technologies secured an injunction from the Munich Regional Court in a case in which TP-Link was the defendant. Reporting on the ruling for ip fray, Florian Mueller argued that the court set a new, pro-plaintiff legal standard for assessing the security amount to be deposited before an injunction can be enforced and claimed that it “does not appear to have a basis in the law”.
Meanwhile, in London, Lenovo failed to persuade the High Court to prevent Ericsson from pursuing or enforcing injunctions against it in Brazil and Colombia. Elsewhere, Xiaomi and Sharp announced a deal ending their long-running wireless SEP dispute; and USPTO records revealed recent patent acquisition activity by Oppo and Philips. There was a lot more going on too.
Please note that inclusion of a piece in the list below does not signify agreement with what is stated in the linked article, just that we believe it is of interest and worth pointing out.
Legal
Germany’s Munich I Regional Court issued an injunction against TP-Link in a case involving Wi-Fi 6 SEPs owned by Atlas Global Technologies. New SEP injunction, new standard for security amount: German case law exacerbates as if judges were begging for political intervention – ip fray
Lenovo failed to obtain a preliminary injunction from the England & Wales High Court restraining Ericsson’s pursuit of SEP cases in Brazil and Colombia. No sword of Damocles for Lenovo in FRAND dispute | Brick Court Chambers
A hearing was held in Tesla’s 5G FRAND lawsuit against InterDigital and Avanci in the England & Wales High Court, with both respondents arguing that the case belongs in the US and should be thrown out. Tesla asks UK court to let 5G patents lawsuit continue to trial | Reuters
Market
Xiaomi and Sharp announced a multi-year global cross-licence covering wireless SEPs. The deal ends Chinese litigation initiated by Sharp in 2022. Exclusive: Xiaomi and Sharp ink wireless SEP cross-licensing deal - IAM (iam-media.com) (Paywall)
Recent USPTO assignments have seen Oppo acquire a video and image coding portfolio from LG Electronics, while Philips picked up 18 US patents related to WLAN communication. Patentcloud - Weekly Patent Market Pulse: USTPO Assignments from May 13, 2024 to May 19, 2024
Policy
An inter-ministerial group in China released its 2024 work plan for building a “powerful IP country”, which tasks competition regulators with formulating and publishing antitrust guidelines for SEPs. China releases the plan for promoting the construction of a powerful intellectual property country | China IP Law Update
Analysis/Opinion
Hold-out will remain an attractive strategy in SEP Licensing negotiations if the worst-case scenario for implementers is a FRAND royalty unadjusted for the economic costs of delay to the licensor. Restoring Balance in Cellular SEPs Licensing (btlj.org)
Clarivate’s global NPE litigation report reveals that assertions are on a downtrend in both the US and in Europe – and that European cases involving NPEs are largely confined to Germany. 2024 Non-Practicing Entity global litigation report - Clarivate
A recent decision of the Mannheim local division of the UPC in a case involving Panasonic and Xiaomi shows the court is squarely focused on the assessment of anticompetitive behaviour in a FRAND context. SEP Litigation and Self-Inflicted Disclosure Orders (eipamar.com)
PTAB cases reached their lowest level in a decade in 2023, but outcomes for patent owners are getting worse, according to the Q1 US patent litigation report from IAM and Docket Navigator Docket Navigator and IAM Litigation Report Q1 2024 - IAM (iam-media.com) (Paywall)
Rulings in a pair of recent UPC SEP cases reveal a split on issues of licensing transparency between the courts in Mannheim and Munich. Dueling UPC SEP Rulings Reveal a Mannheim-Munich Split over Transparency Issues - News | RPX Insight (rpxcorp.com) (Paywall)
