Context:
- The Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) pool run by Via Licensing Alliance has a high market penetration rate. For mobile devices it is estimated to be approximately 80%, with Honor having been announced a licensee last month (March 9, 2026 ip fray article).
- HMD is not a licensee, and is (to put it mildly) usually not among the first companies to take a patent license, whether from a pool or bilaterally, and the disproportionate litigation expenses it incurs defending against standard-essential patent (SEP) actions has given rise to “stalking horse” speculations. Due to earlier patent injunctions, HMD has left the Brazilian market. To the extent that its products are still available, they are imported by third parties. At a recent hearing, it showed no desire to appeal a preliminary injunction (PI) obtained by Via licensor NEC over an AAC patent (April 13, 2026 ip fray article).
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- Dusseldorf Regional Court, 4a O 63/17
- Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court, 2 U 13/21
- Munich I Regional Court, 7 O 14091/19 (IP Bridge v. Ford)
- UPC Munich LD, Huawei v. Netgear (December 18, 2024 ip fray article)
The last item on the list is the one in connection with which the Brazilian judgment, in a footnote on page 31, points to ip fray. In that regard, too, the Brazilian court is in the international mainstream (see, e.g., February 12, 2026 ip fray article). ip fray articles have led to court orders (UK and UPC). At the end of an interview, Presiding Judge Dr. Oliver Schoen (“Schön”) of the Munich I Regional Court acknowledged ip fray‘s contribution to debate on important issues. Our follower base (LinkedIn and email) also includes patent-specialized U.S. and Asian judges.
While the UPC and SEPs are two huge fields for us to cover and we provide in-depth analysis of key U.S. decisions such as VLSI v. Intel and Teva v. Eli Lilly, we are also all in on Brazil and other jurisdictions. Earlier this week, we were first (at least outside of China) to report on new Chinese regulations countering extraterritorial overreach (April 13, 2026 ip fray article).
Court and counsel
6th Business Court of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Judge Victor Agustin Jaccoud Diz Torres (short form: Judge Victor Torres).
The Via licensors suing HMD are being represented by Licks Attorneys’ (ip fray firm profile) Carlos Aboim, Gabriel Mathias, Youssef Yunes Borges Pires, Ana Carolina Marques da Cunha, and Paolo Maiolino; and Salomão Advogados’ Luis Felipe Salomão Filho and Alice Moreira Studart da Fonseca.