Context:
- In the previous article, which discussed the Cold War between the High Court of Justice for England & Wales (EWHC) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC), we mentioned that Mr Justice Richard Meade criticized (in an order dated March 5, 2026) the UPC’s Mannheim Local Division (LD) for having notified the European Commission’s (EC) Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) and (which the order does not mention) Directorate-General for Trade (DG TRADE) of the interjurisdictional conflict started by Amazon with a UK FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing) action against InterDigital. We said that the next article (this one here) would discuss concerns by a similar authority in a different jurisdiction.
- We regularly report on major developments in patent, particularly standard-essential patent (SEP), enforcement in Brazil (see, e.g., February 9, 2026 ip fray article).
- A SEP dispute between Ericsson and Lenovo ended about a year ago (April 3, 2025 ip fray article) with an agreement to arbitrate certain details. Previously, there was an incipient antisuit war, though nowhere near the level of intensity seen now between Amazon and InterDigital.
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In the dispute between InterDigital and Amazon, the UPC’s Mannheim LD explicitly stated that it can’t shield other courts’ proceedings (not even if those of other courts based in the EU, such as the Munich I Regional Court) from UK overreach (February 27, 2026 ip fray article). This is now a practical concern for the Rio de Janeiro State Court. It may take initiatives, such as for contempt proceedings, to get Amazon either to withdraw its UK FRAND action or to carve out Brazilian patent enforement rom it. Otherwise, there is a possibility of other courts protecting their jurisdiction while Brazilian cases can’t go forward or at least not contribute much to the conclusion of license agreements.
It would also be possible for pushback against UK FRAND actions to come from the courts plus one or more government agencies in parallel.