In-depth reporting and analytical commentary on intellectual property disputes and debates. No legal advice.

UPC summons Amazon, InterDigital to hearing on short notice: friction with UK FRAND action and language of proceedings on agenda

Florian Mueller

Theoretically, Amazon could already be sanctioned on Friday.

Context:

  • After a recent UK court hearing in Amazon v. InterDigital, it was unclear whether the streaming giant had backtracked to a sufficient extent in order to eliminate the risk of the Unified Patent Court’s (UPC) Mannheim Local Division (LD) feeling forced to impose contempt-of-court sanctions (February 12, 2026 ip fray article). For the complex procedural situation in this interjurisdictional dispute, in which InterDigital obtained an antisuit injunction in the UK after InterDigital won an anti-interim-license injunction that is at this stage more appropriately called an anti-interference injunction (AII), please see our previous reporting and commentary.
  • The dispute has already given rise to two UPC appeals. The second one relates to the creation of an unofficial verbatim transcript, and the Court of Appeal (CoA) would apparently like to resolve that part on the papers so as to have a full hearing day available in late May for the main topic, which is the AII (February 23, 2026 LinkedIn post by ip fray).

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UPC panels and counsel

CoA

Presiding Judge Ulrike Voss (“Voß” in German) was recently sworn in as the Presiding Judge of the CoA’s new Panel 3. But for this case she is joined by President Dr. Grabinski’s trusted sidekicks Judge-rapporteur Prof. Peter Blok and Judge Emmanuel GougĂ© (Panel 1). Presiding Judge Voss is famous in the SEP context for her referral of Huawei v. ZTE to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) while she was presiding over one of the divisions of the Dusseldorf Regional Court. For the Munich LD, she granted Nokia an anti-antisuit injunction against SUNMI (February 20, 2025 ip fray article).

Mannheim LD panel

Presiding Judge (and here, judge-rapporteur) Prof. Peter Tochtermann, Judge Dirk Boettcher (“Böttcher” in German), and Judge AndrĂĄs Kupecz (CD Munich; August 30, 2024 ip fray interview). The latest order was signed by Presiding Judge Prof. Tochtermann “with “after consultation with and upon mandate of the full panel (Judge Sender substituting for Judge Böttcher being on leave)” (emphasis in original). Judge Tobias Sender was in the audience during the first part of the November 14, 2025 hearing in this matter.

Counsel for InterDigital

Counsel for InterDigital: Arnold Ruess‘s Cordula Schumacher (also lead counsel on appeal), Dr.  Lisa Rieth, Tim Smentkowski, Julija Kravtsova, and Dr. Marina Wehler. From the UK, Bird & Bird’s Mark Livsey attended the Mannheim LD hearing in person. U.S. attorney Richard Kamprath of McKool Smith was also among the remote attendees. In-house litigation counsel Steven Akerley attended in person, and several other InterDigital lawyers and executives followed the video stream.

Counsel for Amazon