Published: 3/3/16
Publication: Lexology
We commented in our last quarterly briefing on the phenomenon of patent privateering in the TMT sector, in the context of a dispute between Unwired Plant and Huawei and others (see here). The long-running global dispute between Vringo and ZTE is another example of patent privateering. Vringo Infrastructure, Inc. (“Vringo”) is the owner of a global patent portfolio of standards-essential patents (“SEP”) relating to wireless communications infrastructure, which it acquired from Nokia in August 2012 (subject to some form of revenue sharing). A case management hearing in the English Patent Court in June 2015 provided some further light on negotiation of FRAND terms in patent licensing, which we outline below. However, the FRAND issues never fell to be decided fully, as the parties entered into a global settlement of the dispute in December 2015. The terms of the settlement, to the extent publicly available, provide an insight into current trends in the patent asset values.