Acer sues AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon in Eastern District of Texas

Context: Last spring, Nokia initiated a video patent enforcement campaign against device makers Acer, ASUS, and Hisense in the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and Germany (April 1, 2025 ip fray article), the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) and federal district courts (April 11, 2025 ip fray article), the Delhi High Court (HC) (June 13, 2025 ip fray article), and Brazil. The defendants then filed FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing) actions in retaliation in the High Court of Justice for England & Wales (EWHC), where they obtained interim-license declarations that Nokia was going to appeal (December 18, 2025 ip fray article) and which were, at any rate, unlikely to be recognized in key enforcement venues such as the UPC and Germany (December 25, 2025 ip fray article). Meanwhile, Nokia sought a declaratory judgment (DJ) of non-infringement and FRAND breach in the District of Delaware with respect to nine patents Acer declared essential to the 4G and/or 5G cellular standards (September 6, 2025 ip fray article), and, just last week, Nokia and Hisense settled with a multi-year patent license agreement covering the use of Nokia’s video technologies in the consumer electronics maker’s televisions (January 8, 2026 ip fray article).

What’s new: Acer has filed three separate complaints against U.S. telecommunications giants AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas over the alleged infringement of six standard-essential patents (SEPs) “fundamental to the implementation” of 4G, 5G, and LTE.

Direct impact: While the three companies are well-known Nokia customers, the lawsuits are not limited to allegations against Nokia equipment. Acer’s complaints more generally accuse “cellular base stations…that infringe[] the Asserted Patents by operating in accordance with 3GPP 4G/LTE and 5G Standards, including Releases 8-15”, without naming any specific suppliers. AT&T notably chose Ericsson as its primary vendor for new 5G Open RAN deployments under a large multi-year contract announced in late 2023, replacing much of Nokia’s role in supplying base stations for its main wireless network.

Wider ramifications: Unlike their counterpart Hisense, ASUS and Acer have chosen to take a more proactive enforcement approach against Nokia. It was revealed during an EWHC hearing in October that ASUS is seeking $99 billion from U.S. carriers for the alleged use of its patents, of which amount approximately 20% would be attributable to (and presumably subject to indemnification by) Nokia (October 21, 2025 ip fray article). The figure, which is disputed, would equal to several times Nokia’s entire market capitalization.