London’s High Court recently ruled in the latest round of a long-running dispute that China’s Lenovo Group has to pay US technology firm Interdigital $138.7 million (nearly Rs. 1,150 crores) for a license for its portfolio of telecommunications patents.
Interdigital brought the lawsuit against Lenovo in 2019 over the terms where Lenovo should take a license of its patents which are essential to 3G, 4G, and 5G standards.
The litigation, which has so far featured 5 separate trials, centers on the fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms of a license for Inter Digital’s patents.
Judge James Mellor stated in a written ruling on Thursday that previous offers made by both Lenovo and Interdigital which offered $337 million (nearly Rs. 3,000) for a 6-year license were not made on FRAND terms.
Further, he stated that Lenovo should pay a sum of $138.7 million “lump sum” to cover past and future sales of mobile devices from 2007 until the end of 2023.
Lenovo described the ruling as “a major win for the technology industry and the customers we serve”.
John Mulgrew, Lenovo’s chief intellectual property officer, said in a statement that “reinforces FRAND’s critical role in facilitating transparent and equitable licensing practices for standardized technologies”.
Interdigital’s Chief Legal Officer Josh Schmidt welcomed what he said was the ruling’s recognition that “a licensee should pay in full for the past infringement of standard essential patents”.
However, he said in a statement: “We plan to appeal, as we believe that certain aspects of the decision do not accurately reflect our licensing program.”
London-based patent lawyer Mark Marfe, who was not involved in the case, said the decision reinforced the High Court’s willingness to grant a global FRAND license. China is the only other jurisdiction where courts have set global FRAND rates for so-called standard essential patents.
Marfe added that “all eyes will be on the Unified Patent Court”, a common patent court for European Union member states which opens in June, to see whether it takes a similar approach.
