Context: In August 2023, ASUSTeK sued Lenovo for infringing several 5G standard-essential patents (SEPs) in the Regional Court of Munich. Lenovo then launched a U.S.-wide counter-attack in November 2023, filing a complaint in the United States International Trade Commission (ITC), alleging that technology in ASUSTeK’s Zenbook Pro and Zenbook Flip 14 laptops infringed several patents related to wireless communications and diagonal touchpad technologies (December 15, 2023 ITC press release), and a parallel suit in the Northern District of California. Lenovo then took the dispute global in June 2024, when it filed patent infringement allegations over EP3682587 (“Reference signals for radio link monitoring”) against ASUSTeK in the Unified Patent Court’s (UPC) Munich Local Division (LD) (LinkedIn post by ip fray). In the ITC case, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued a final initial determination in February, finding no infringement. Lenovo filed a petition for review of that decision.
What’s new: The ITC has affirmed the ALJ’s final initial determination of no violation, handing an important win to ASUSTeK in its case against Lenovo (June 20, 2025 ITC final determination (PDF)).Â
Direct impact: Lenovo could file an appeal against the ITC’s final determination in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, but the earliest point of that decision being reversed would be well over a year from now. And, as the ITC has sided with the ALJ’s opinion – meaning decisionmakers with very different approaches came down on the same side – the prospects of such an appeal are not great.
Wider ramifications: When Lenovo first filed this suit, it was only the third time the PC maker had been involved in a patent infringement action in the US as a plaintiff. Both Lenovo and ASUSTeK are usually more known as defendants, but this is one of several cases that highlight their expanding roles as patentees on the global IP stage and the power they are leveraging in patent infringement litigation.
The patents-in-suit are:
- U.S. Patent No. 7,792,066 (“Wireless wake-on-LAN power management”)
- U.S. Patent No. 8,687,354 (“Dual shaft hinge with angle timing shaft mechanism”)
- U.S. Patent No. 10,952,203 (“Methods and apparatus for transmitting in resource blocks”)
While Lenovo’s suit against ASUSTeK was pending in the UPC and the ITC, a non-practicing entity named Innovative Sonic Corporation filed suits against Lenovo over EP2765731, a 5G SEP, in both the UPC and the Munich I Regional Court (July 25, 2024 ip fray article). That case is still pending in court.
Counsel
Lenovo was represented by Sean Cunningham at DLA Piper LLP, while ASUSTeK was represented by Alston & Bird LLP’s M. Scott Stevens.
This case marked the third time in recent years that Lenovo was involved in a U.S. patent infringement dispute as a plaintiff. Both companies are increasingly emerging as powerful players on the global patent stage, with Lenovo recently settling its multijurisdictional patent dispute against Ericsson with a cross-licence agreement (April 3, 2025 ip fray article), and ASUSTeK bagging a significant win in a separate dispute filed by Ericsson in the UPC, when the court denied Ericsson a preliminary injunction (October 15, 2024 ip fray article).
ASUSTeK was recently sued by Nokia in a patent enforcement campaign that also targeted Acer and Hisense in the UPC (April 1, 2025 ip fray article), Germany, the United States (April 11, 2025 ip fray article) and Brazil. Nokia later expanded its campaign to the Delhi High Court (June 13, 2025 ip fray article), but only against Acer and Hisense. ASUSTeK was clearly missing from that specific action. This, in addition to the fact that Acer and Hisense have brought claims against Nokia in the High Court of Justice for England & Wales (June 12, 2025 LinkedIn post by ip fray) but ASUSTeK has not, suggests negotiations are going better between Nokia and ASUSTeK.