One step up, two steps back: particularly one thing that happened today may have the UPC even more concerned than what had occurred before.
Context:
- For the intricate procedural background of the dispute between Amazon and InterDigital over the former’s UK FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing) action and the latter’s anti-interference injunction (AII1), we would like to refer you to our most recent coverage: our February 27, 2026 article on a procedural agreement in the Unified Patent Court’s (UPC) Mannheim Local Division (LD) that was subject to approval by the High Court of Justice for England & Wales (EWHC), and our other article later that day on issues that are not decisive in this dispute at the moment, but could be relevant in the future (particularly in other cases).
- Dolby is trying to help (among others) Amazon in the U.S. part of the dispute through two declaratory judgment (DJ) actions (March 4, 2026 ip fray article).
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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 Gougé (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 András Kupecz (CD Munich; August 30, 2024 ip fray interview). Temporarily, Judge Tobias Sender filled in for Judge Boettcher, but the latter was on the panel that held the February 27, 2026 hearing.
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 Richard Vary attended the February 27, 2026 hearing. U.S. attorney Richard Kamprath of McKool Smith was among the remote attendees of various related hearings. In-house litigation counsel Steven Akerley attended the two Mannheim hearings in person, and several other InterDigital lawyers and executives followed the video stream.
Counsel for Amazon
- In person at the Mannheim hearing: Hoyng Rokh Monegier’s Klaus Haft, Sven Krause, Roeland Grijpink, Dr. Léon Dijkman, Moritz Lohr, Dr. Nico Schur, and Antonia Wilhelm; as well as (from the UK) Hogan Lovells’s Paul Brown.
- By video: Hoyng Rokh Monegier’s Kay Kasper; Hogan Lovells UK’s Will Buswell and Ian Moss; Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton’s Martin Bader and Stephen Korniczky; and Amazon VP IP Scott Hayden and Associate General Counsel IP Marc Ascolese.
- This is not the official term used by any of the courts, but the original title of the injunction as proposed by InterDigital, “anti-interim-license injunction” (AILI), would be confusing at this stage where Amazon is no longer pursuing an interim license and the UPC has clarified that the scope of the injunction is not confined to the prohibition of the pursuit of an interim license. ↩︎