Context: After well over a year, Nokia’s multimedia patent disputes with computer makers Acer and ASUS (June 26, 2025 ip fray article) have not settled yet (unlike the one with Hisense: January 8, 2026 ip fray article), despite two German injunctions (March 26, 2026 ip fray article). Last month, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales (EWCA) heard Nokia’s appeal of an interim-license declaration in the computer makers’ favor (April 23, 2026 ip fray article). In the U.S., Nokia has to defend its customers against lawsuits brought by Acer as well as a licensing entity asserting ASUS patents.
What’s new: This week, the 10th Private Law Chamber of the Rio de Janeiro Appellate Court handed Nokia two significants wins over ASUS this week, both of which have implications against Acer over the same patent (PI 0304565-0 on a skip mode method in video coding). The patent claims at issue are standard-essential as they cover the decoding functionality of the Advanced Video coding (AVC/H.264) standard. ASUS’s request to lift a preliminary injunction (PI) granted last year was rejected. The appeals court was unconvinced of ASUS’s allegations that Nokia’s proposed licensing terms were not fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND). Also, Nokia succeeded with its request to throw out the part of an expert report that considered the patent non-essential (and therefore, not infringed). A supplementary report by a new expert will be furnished on that question.
Direct impact: The PI remains in effect. The appeals court’s FRAND analysis and its decision not to rely on an unfavorable expert report make it rather more likely that ASUS’s appeal will fail to get the injunction overturned.
Wider ramifications: The appeals court’s views on FRAND will most likely also apply to the dispute with Acer. The expert whose report was tossed was also assigned to the parallel case against Acer. It appears very likely now that the Acer and ASUS cases will have consistent outcomes unless Acer manages to technically distinguish its implementation of AVC/H.264 or is in a stronger position than ASUS as far as FRAND is concerned.
The following views expressed by the court support Nokia’s FRAND argument and, generally, reinforce the Brazilian judicial perspective on standard-essential patent (SEP) injunctions:
“Furthermore, the Defendant [ASUS] has not been able to prove that the Plaintiff [Nokia] proposed discriminatory licensing, in violation of the FRAND terms, that is, fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory conditions usually required in the granting of essential patent licenses; nor that the original lawsuit would be part of a strategy to pressure companies that implement technologies in commercial negotiations.”
“It is important to note that the Appellant [ASUS] itself has admitted licensing negotiations with the Appellee [Nokia] for at least eight years, in order to negotiate conditions to obtain the right to use the aforementioned patent […] In addition, the measure granted is limited to safeguarding, as a precautionary measure, the exclusive right of the patent owner, whose protection would be void if the potentially improper use of the technology were admitted until the final judgment of the controversy […] Waiting until the end of the lawsuit to only then determine that the Appellant refrains from exploring the use of the invention would imply the perpetuation of the unlawful act, which cannot be approved by the Judiciary.”
“In fact, the continuity of any violation of industrial property has economic consequences, embodied in the market imbalance, since those who use someone else’s invention, without due consideration, are in a more advantageous position compared to competitors who bear such burden, which would allow the defendant to obtain benefits by offering products with more attractive prices than the competition.”
Counsel
Nokia is mainly being represented in this case by Licks Attorneys’ (ip fray firm profile) Carlos Aboim, Felipe Oquendo, and Gabriel Mathias. Nokia’s in-house legal team managing the litigation consists of Ron Antush, Todd Leitstein, and Victoria Garcia.
ASUS is primarily being represented in this case by FCDG (Francisco Müssnich and Marcos Pitanga) and Gusmão & Labrunie (Vanessa Ribeiro).