Maybe not all readers of this blog will know that there once was a “North German Confederation” which existed from July 1867 to December 1870, after which it became part of the newly to-be-founded German kingdom. This confederation even had its own constitution, which became somewhat of a blueprint for the German constitution of 1871….
On 14 May, the EPO published the study Standards and the European patent system. The study seeks to improve transparency in the relationship between standards and patents in Europe, by providing insights from an EPO dataset linking patents and standards. The study also provides early observations into SEP litigation under the UPC. I will very…
The Court of Appeal’s judgment in Optis Cellular Technology LLC v Apple Retail UK Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 552, handed down on 1 May 2025, is arguably the most significant UK FRAND decision since Unwired Planet v Huawei. It not only overturns the High Court’s FRAND determination but re-establishes the centrality of a comparables-based approach…
Much like Black Sabbath’s iconic track “Paranoid”—an anthem whose unsettling riffs once left skeptics bewildered—I find myself contemplating the equally discordant landscape of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). As someone known for my passion for both music and the intricacies of patent law, I see uncanny parallels between the dissonant chords of early heavy metal and…
Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) are at the heart of global technology markets, particularly in 4G/5G communications. While SEPs ensure interoperability, they also raise significant licensing challenges. As is known, to curb potential abuses, SEP holders must commit to licensing their patents on FRAND terms. However, determining what qualifies as “fair” and “reasonable” remains contentious. This…
“I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” U2’s iconic lyric might capture how patent holders feel when an anti-suit injunction (ASI) from a foreign court threatens to derail enforcement in Europe. Rather than yielding, European courts often respond with a swift countermeasure: the anti-anti-suit injunction (AASI). An AASI prevents litigants from seeking or enforcing…
Back in January 2025, the EU initiated consultations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to challenge the practice of Chinese courts to unilaterally set binding global royalty rates for non-Chinese standard essential patents (SEPs) without the consent of the parties to the litigation. According to the EU Commission press release, this unfairly pressures European high-tech…
In July 2023, the Japanese electronics company Panasonic initiated a series of patent infringement and FRAND-related proceedings against several subsidiaries of the Chinese consumer electronics maker Oppo (and in parallel against another Chinese company, i.e. Xiaomi), at the local divisions of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) in Mannheim and Munich (*). Panasonic’s suit targeted Oppo…
Like Prudence the heroine of Amours à l’Italienne (Rome Adventure in English), UPC local division of Mannheim gives us a lesson of polyamory with the first UPC FRAND decision (November, 22, 2024, Panasonic v. Oppo), in which the Court reminds us of its Love for EU Law (and CJEU case law), but also, and above…
The 2015 landmark decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Huawei/ZTE established a balanced framework for licensing standard essential patents (SEPs), striking a compromise between the interests of SEPs holders and implementers. The ruling notoriously clarified when SEP holders can seek injunctions without abusing their dominant market position. It stated…
