Published: 2/2/16
Publication: Lexology
THE CASE: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd v ZTE Corp; ZTE Deutschland GmbH Court of Justice of the European Union 20 November 2014
Advocate General Wathelet has advised the CJEU on the application of competition law to the seeking of injunctions for FRAND-encumbered patents. Pat Treacy and David George report on the detail of the case.
Abstract: The Huawei v ZTE preliminary reference to the CJEU concerns the question of when, if at all, competition law should constrain the enforcement of standard-essential patents (SEPs) which are subject to declarations to grant licences on Fair Reasonable And Non Discriminatory (FRAND) terms. The reference concerned the rules on abuse of dominant position under Article 102 TFEU and, in particular, the circumstances under which seeking injunctive relief might breach these rules.