China’s Lenovo Group should pay US expertise agency InterDigital $138.7 million (almost Rs. 1,150 crore) for a licence for its portfolio of telecommunications patents, London’s Excessive Court docket dominated on Thursday within the newest spherical of a long-running dispute.
InterDigital introduced the lawsuit towards Lenovo in 2019 over the phrases on which Lenovo ought to take a licence of its patents that are important to 3G, 4G and 5G requirements.
The litigation, which has to this point featured 5 separate trials, centres on the truthful, affordable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) phrases of a licence for InterDigital’s patents.
Decide James Mellor mentioned in a written ruling on Thursday that earlier provides made by each Lenovo and InterDigital – which had supplied $337 million (almost Rs. 3,000) for a six-year licence – weren’t made on FRAND phrases.
He mentioned Lenovo ought to pay a $138.7 million “lump sum” to cowl previous and future gross sales of cell units from 2007 till the tip of 2023.
Lenovo described the ruling as “a significant win for the expertise trade and the purchasers we serve”.
John Mulgrew, Lenovo’s chief mental property officer, mentioned in a press release the choice “reinforces FRAND’s crucial function in facilitating clear and equitable licensing practices for standardized applied sciences”.
InterDigital’s Chief Authorized Officer Josh Schmidt welcomed what he mentioned was the ruling’s recognition that “a licensee ought to pay in full for the previous infringement of normal important patents”.
Nevertheless, he mentioned in a press release: “We plan to enchantment, as we consider that sure points of the choice don’t precisely replicate our licensing program.”
London-based patent lawyer Mark Marfe, who was not concerned within the case, mentioned the choice strengthened the Excessive Court docket’s willingness to grant a worldwide FRAND licence.
China is the one different jurisdiction the place courts have set international FRAND charges for so-called commonplace important patents.
Marfe added that “all eyes shall be on the Unified Patent Court docket”, a standard patent court docket for European Union member states which opens in June, to see whether or not it takes the same strategy.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
