Context: Chinese automaker BYD has grown from a few hundred thousand cars in its first year to 5.5 million cars in only a few years. But it has yet to license 4G and 5G standard-essential patents (SEPs). Apparently some SEP holders are no longer prepared to put up with infringement. Sol IP, a Korean licensing firm with a U.S. legal entity, has sued BYD in the Landgericht München I (Munich I Regional Court) (February 19, 2025 ip fray article), as has Japan’s IP Bridge (March 11, 2025 ip fray article). Initially, those were mere damages complaints without prayer for injunctive relief.
What’s new: We have just found out that IP Bridge and Sol IP have added requests for permanent injunctions to both of its Munich cases against BYD.
Direct impact: The only plausible explanation is that BYD has not responded to the original complaints as constructively as the patent holders hoped it would. The additional pursuit of sales bans, which could enter into effect in early 2026, adds considerable pressure.
Wider ramifications: With the exception of Tesla, which just lost a UK appeal (March 6, 2025 ip fray article), BYD, some more Chinese companies, and maybe some Indian car makers, the automotive industry has accepted, and thereby validated, Avanci’s 4G and 5G patent licensing terms. If BYD takes the license as well, there is a realistic chance that Avanci will achieve a similar market penetration among Chinese automakers, at least with respect to those who (like BYD) sell cars in Western markets, despite some Chinese automotive industry associations attempting to dissuade car makers from signing up (February 24, 2025 ip fray article). Also, some Chinese automakers have taken bilateral licenses from Nokia (December 17, 2024 ip fray article), and at least one such company has became an Avanci member. Furthermore, various major Chinese SEP holders are Avanci licensors.
IP Bridge has added injunction requests to both of its Munich cases against BYD, and Sol IP to one of them (case no. 7 O 1583/2025).
There have been other cases in which parties filed patent infringement complaints in Germany without initially seeking injunctive relief. Nokia did so against Mercedes (then named Daimler) in 2019, but added injunction requests well ahead of trial.
In the Unified Patent Court (UPC), that strategy is not equally advantageous. Last year, Lenovo subsidiary Motorola Mobility was denied leave to amend a complaint to the effect of seeking injunctions, and had to file new cases for that purpose (August 6, 2024 ip fray article).
Now that it’s “open season” on BYD with respect to injunctions, SEP holders might also bring UPC complaints now and ask for injunctions from the get-go. In fact, even Sol IP and IP Bridge could do so, but they’d have to carve out Germany from the territory with respect to which they would seek a UPC injunction.
What appears not only unlikely but next to unthinkable is that Avanci would grant Chinese licensees a discount. Avanci has a policy of consistent terms on a worldwide basis.
BYD has aggressive international expansion plans, and its cars are increasingly seen on European roads. Patent injunctions could adversely affect BYD’s growth in Europe. It would be rather logical for this licensing issue to be resolved soon, at least during the course of this year.