Post-Brexit, US patent owners likely to keep calm and continue filing suits in Germany
Published: 6/28/16
Publication: Intellectual Asset Management
Such has been the shock of Thursday’s Brexit vote that the US media has given the unfolding drama plenty of coverage. That the decision by UK voters has huge implications not only for the European Union but also the world economy is evident from the loss in value across stock markets. And, there is a significant patent element to Thursday’s result thanks to the proposed implementation of the unitary patent and the Unified Patent […]
Court of Appeal overrules High Court FRAND decision on non-discrimination
Published: 6/17/16
Publication: Lexology
On 27 May 2016, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment on an appeal brought by Samsung against a decision of the Patents Court to strike out one of its competition law defences in the landmark patent infringement proceedings brought by Unwired Planet against Samsung and others alleging that they have infringed a number of Unwired Planet’s standard essential telecommunications patents. The Court of Appeal granted the appeal in part on the grounds that […]
Dusseldorf Regional Court Guidance Regarding Standard-Essential Patents (“”SEPs””) And Splitting Of The Portfolio Of SEPs
Published: 6/14/16
Publication: Mondaq
In three Düsseldorf Regional Court decisions in Unwired Planet v. Samsung dated 19 January 2016 the Court found that the German parts of Unwired Planet’s European patents EP 1 230 818, EP 2 485 514 and EP 2 119 287 (the Patents) were essential for GSM and LTE standards and were infringed by Samsung. The Court ordered Samsung to provide information and to render an account of past sales in Germany. [READ MORE]
Going into detail: Decision of Karlsruhe Appeals Court alters standard of assessing FRAND obligations of plaintiff
Published: 6/13/16
Publication: Lexology
he Karlsruhe Appeals Court partially granted a defendant`s request for abatement of preliminary enforcement of a first instance judgment. It held that the practice of the Mannheim Regional Court, which – upon dispute – only reviewed the alleged FRAND offer of the plaintiff on a superficial basis for evident non-FRAND compliance could not be maintained in view of the findings of the CJEU in the Huawei v. ZTE (CJEU, GRUR 2015, 764) case. [READ MORE]
Interpretation and application of Huawei by German courts
Published: 5/24/16
Publication: IAM
In the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that a fundamental conflict exists between patent law and antitrust law regarding standard-essential patents (SEPs). Patent law provides a patent holder with an exclusive right which can be used to prevent other parties from using its patented invention. However, antitrust law prohibits the abuse of a dominant position (eg, Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), which arguably […]
Are French courts patent-FRANDly?
Published: 5/23/16
Publication: IAM
The French courts are now hosting a growing number of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) litigations and international arbitrations – such as Samsung v Apple and Ericsson v TCT, and more recently Core Wireless v LG Electronics and Vringo v ZTE – in which French judges were asked to rule on significant FRAND issues.
Historically, patent holders elected to submit most infringement cases to German and Texan courts, which had earned a reputation as forums […]