Category: Licensors and/or Licensees
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Novartis denied injunctive relief against MSN in chronic heart failure patent fight: next stop emergency motion for injunction pending appeal?
Novartis cannot block rival MSN Pharmaceuticals from launching a generic version of its chronic heart failure treatment Entresto before its patent expires in November 2026, the District of Delaware has held.
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UPC’s Court of Appeal clarifies standard for default judgment against claimant, enters default judgment against NPE suing Microsoft
Context: A few months ago, the infringement action brought by Finnish non-practicing entity (NPE) Suinno against Microsoft in the Unified Patent Court (UPC) resulted in appellate clarification of the question of whether the owner and general manager may represent a company in the UPC (item 2.1 of our February 15, 2025 UPC Roundup). Regardless of…
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Nokia defends against third Eastern District of Texas case in a row: no infringement; and only $2M for T-Mobile’s use of Ericsson base stations
Context: Last year, there were only two cases in the Eastern District of Texas during that entire year which plaintiffs lost. In both cases, Nokia was the defendant. On April 5, 2024, Smart Path Connections lost a jury trial over three patents and a fourth had previously been thrown out by the court on summary…
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NPE launches WiFi 6 patent enforcement campaign (11 suits): SEPs formerly owned by ZTE, NXP, Marvell asserted against Acer, ASUSTek, LG, HP, Lenovo
Velocity Communication Technologies, LLC, which owns a portfolio of WiFi 6 standard-essential patents formerly owned by ZTE, Marvell Technology and NXP Semiconductors, has filed 11 complaints in the Eastern District of Texas, alleging “malicious” and “deliberate” patent infringement.
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At ZTE v. Samsung hearing, Munich I Regional Court gives new FRAND guidance, rejects security focus of UK and Munich appeals courts
Context: What’s new: The Munich I Regional Court’s 7th Civil Chamber held a FRAND hearing today relating to certain infringement actions that are part of the wider ZTE-Samsung dispute. Presiding Judge Dr. Oliver Schoen (“Schön” in German) sealed the courtroom for the case-specific matters, which in the impression of third-party observers are going better for…
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Xiaomi defeats Atlantic IP NPE Nera in UPC, two German court proceedings on hold over validity issues: defensive winning streak
Context: Xiaomi is frequently sued over patents in Europe, particularly in Germany, because of its significant market share. But it defends itself vigorously, affords first-rate lawyers, and has repeatedly achieved strong results. For example, Xiaomi won the first-ever UK interim patent license last year (October 3, 2024 ip fray article), in a case where the…
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Federal judge’s preliminary assessment: Samsung’s U.S. case against ZTE over FRAND may very well be thrown out
Context: In an unprecedented brute-force play, Samsung is presently pursuing FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing) claims over ZTE’s standard-essential patents (SEPs) in (at minimum) four jurisdictions (June 20, 2025 ip fray article). The third venue where such a filing showed up is the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (March…
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Another UK decision on FRAND procedures, another opportunity missed to depart from judicial imperialism: MediaTek v. Huawei
Context: With decisions such as the recent interim-license declaration in Samsung v. ZTE (June 25, 2025 ip fray article; follow-up: June 27, 2025 ip fray article), UK FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing) case law has reached the point where any jurisdiction other than the UK is by definition inferior and untrustworthy. Contorted rationales are presented to…
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UK appeals court dismisses litigation funding agreement challenges by Sony, Apple, Visa, Mastercard: “victory for common sense”, say local funders
In a landmark judgment widely welcomed by litigation funders the England & Wales Court of Appeal has ruled that litigation funding agreements are not a form of damages-based agreement, dismissing several challenges filed by Sony, Apple, Visa and Mastercard in UK class action claims.
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Pantech launches U.S. 4G SEP enforcement campaign: files ITC complaint, sues TCL, HMD, OnePlus, Lenovo, Tinno
The campaign, which targets the same four patents in the same U.S. district court, was filed shortly after the Korean firm was granted Japan’s first-ever injunction in a FRAND-related case.