BREAKING: Within hours of Brazilian injunction, HEVC Advance lists Hisense as licensee

UPDATE (December 23, 2025)

Further to a legal threat by Hisense Visual Technology Ltd. and affiliates, conveyed to us by the CMS law firm, we have modified this article. Hisense states that “[t]he parties proceeded with the signing of the license agreement without first ascertaining the outcome of the litigation, and in any event before the Brazilian court handed down its decision.” We were given an ultimatum by close of business today. The threat was unnecessary because (a) we are absolutely committed to accurate reporting and, as many other parties can confirm (such as law firms who requested changes to the counsel lists), we always make such edits immediately, and (b) we would have been more than happy to receive information on the course of events and to quote a statement from the licensee. But we will defend ourselves vigorously against any attempts of intimidation that would compromise the accuracy of our reporting, such as by demanding that we remove statements that are protected by the freedom of the press.

We do not have to believe that the timing of the conclusion of the license agreement was a coincidence. Based on what Hisense says, the anticipation of the Brazilian preliminary injunction (as the expert report was previously available to them) may have led to the signing of the deal on that particular day.

It is now in the eye of the beholder whether Hisense’s legal threat lends more credibility to its willing-licensee status than if Hisense had simply reached out to us in a constructive manner (as the rest of the industry does). To the people at Hisense, the CMS law firm, and whoever else may contemplate this approach: read about the Streisand Effect. Next time just share your information with us without the threats. Apparently you know how to contact us. We’ll read, we’ll listen, and we’ll treat you fairly in the future regardless of this incident.

Context: Late on Friday, we reported on a number of video patent enforcement news, starting with two Brazilian preliminary injunctions (PIs) that Access Advance licensors JVCKENWOOD (JVC) and NEC had just obtained (December 19, 2025 ip fray article). The Brazilian court also imposed sanctions on Hisense for litigation misconduct.

What’s new: Just a few hours later, before we had even updated our SEP Achievements lists, we discovered a new entry on the HEVC Advance licensee list: Hisense!

Direct impact: The pool license settles all infringement actions and Hisense’s declaratory judgment (DJ) action (September 24, 2025 ip fray article). Judge Victor Torres of the Rio de Janeiro court had given Hisense only 48 hours to comply, and especially the JVC injunction would have been hard to get stayed because it was based on a report by a court-appointed expert (as opposed to a merely urgency-based injunction). Hisense says, however, that it was concluding the license agreement anyway.

Wider ramifications:

• This has been an amazing week for Access Advance, which started with the announcement of its acquisition of Via’s HEVC and VVC pools (December 15, 2025 ip fray article).
• Sooner or later, Hisense will also have to settle with Nokia.
• SEP holders continue to expand their list of jurisdictional options. Also on Friday, the first SEP infringement lawsuit in Morocco, Ericsson v. Transsion, became known (December 19, 2025 ip fray article).