Context: Video-related patents are presently among the most litigated categories of patents. Device makers like Hisense and streaming service providers like Disney are on the receiving end of enforcement actions, but some of them also launch standalone FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing) actions against patent holders (e.g., Hisense against numerous Access Advance licensors: September 24, 2025 ip fray article). Most (but by far not all) video-related patents are available through pools, with Access Advance now acquiring Via Licensing Alliance’s High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC, H.265) and Versatile Video Coding (VVC, H.266) pools (December 15, 2025 ip fray article). Access Advance’s Video Distribution Pool (VDP) and Avanci Video (March 28, 2025 ip fray article) are the market-leading offerings for patent licenses to video streamers.
What’s new: We have a slew of news from the video patent enforcement front to share, some of it breaking and some of it was just discovered this week:
- Access Advance licensors JVCKENWOOD (JVC) and NEC have just won Brazilian preliminary injunctions (PIs) against Hisense. JVC’s injunction is based on a court-appointed expert’s findings. In the JVC case, the court fined Hisense for bad-faith litigation tactics.
- Two other Access Advance licensors have recently filed lawsuits against Hisense. Dolby’s Unified Patent Court (UPC) action is publicly discoverable. The Munich I Regional Court has also received a complaint by NTT Docomo against Hisense.
- Two Avanci Video licensors, Sharp and Huawei, have sued Disney in the Munich I Regional Court. The court today provided a partial confirmation to us.
- Besides HEVC and VVC patents, Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) patents are also being enforced against video streamers. Helios Streaming (an IdeaHub company) is suing Rakuten and sports streamer DAZN (“Da Zone”) both in the UPC and in the Munich I Regional Court.
Direct impact: The noose is tightening around Hisense’s neck, making a settlement by means of a pool license a near-term possibility. Disney, too, may find that it is better to secure patent peace, which is most efficiently accomplished through a pool license, though bilateral options exist. Rakuten and DAZN will now have to decide whether to settle early or engage in protracted litigation.
Wider ramifications: For a frequent defendant like Hisense, it is highly undesirable to be branded a bad-faith litigant. While those are different disputes, this comes at a time when Hisense will have to defend, alongside Acer and ASUS, an interim-license declaration (December 18, 2025 ip fray article) in a UK appeals court.
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Courts and counsel
Brazilian PIs
Judge Victor Torres recently spoke at a Licensing Executives Society (LES) event in Paris.
JVC and NEC are being represented against Hisense by Licks Attorneys’ Rodolfo Barreto, Bruno Falque, and Amanda Terra. As this firm is an ip fray premium member (though the profile is still in the works), we will shortly add those new PIs to our SEP Achievements page.
New European cases against Hisense, Rakuten and DAZN
Dolby, NTT Docomo and Helios Streaming are being represented in those cases by Bardehle Pagenberg’s Dr. Tilman Mueller (“Müller” in German) and Dr. Volkmar Henke. This firm, too, is an ip fray premium member. Bardehle has an ip fray firm profile and a strong presence on our achievement lists.