Disney will have every opportunity during the two-day hearing to address the court’s questions. But the preliminary views that have been communicated to the parties suggest that InterDigital is considerably more likely to win than Disney.
Context: Since InterDigital sued The Walt Disney Company over video patents last year (February 3, 2025 ip fray article), the research and licensing firm has received the U.S. government’s support against antitrust claims involving standard-essential patents (October 7, 2025 ip fray article) and scored multiple wins over the iconic media giant:
- a merits-based Brazilian preliminary injunction (PI) over two streaming patents (September 11, 2025 ip fray article);
- three (permanent) injunctions in Germany (February 13, 2026 ip fray article), at least one of which is impacting Disney’s German premium subscribers (January 23, 2026 ip fray article); and
- an anti-antisuit injunction from the Unified Patent Court’s (UPC) Mannheim Local Division (LD) (May 30, 2025 ip fray article).
To Read The Full Story
Continue reading your article with a Membership
UPC Dusseldorf LD scheduled hearing for June 30, 2026
On the same day on which the Mannheim LD handed down its preparatory order, the Dusseldorf LD scheduled a hearing in a parallel case (over another patent) for June 30, 2026.
Court and counsel
Presiding Judge Professor Peter Tochtermann, Judge-rapporteur Tobias Sender, Judge Mojca Mlakar (Ljubljana, Slovenia), and Technically Qualified Judge Dr. Dennis Kretschmann.
InterDigital is being represented by Arnold Ruess’s (ip fray firm profile with numerous achievements) Cordula Schumacher, Dr. Arno Risse (“RiĂźe” in German), Dr. Marius Kloetzer (“Klötzer”), Dr. Lisa Rieth (counsel of record in Mannheim), and Victoria Thuesing (“ThĂĽsing”), as well as df-mp (ip fray firm profile with numerous achievements) patent attorneys Dr. Dominik Ho, David Molnia, Dr. Ju Min Kim, and Matthias Duda.
Counsel for Disney: Pentarc (ip fray firm profile) attorneys-at-law Dr. Dietrich Kamlah, Dr. Christian Lederer, and Dr. Michael Schaechinger (“Schächinger”), as well as Zimmermann & Partner (ip fray firm profile in the making) patent attorneys Dr. Joel Naegerl (“Nägerl”) and Dr. Lorenz Walder-Hartmann.