Context: Xiaomi is known to be a licensing-oriented implementer of standards, but has also mounted stiff resistance to some companies’ royalty demands. It secured the first-ever UK interim license to standard-essential patents (SEPs) in its dispute with Panasonic (October 3, 2024 ip fray article). Nera Innovations has not made any headway against Xiaomi (July 14, 2026 ip fray article). And a non-practicing entity (NPE) named Advanced Standard Communication (ASC) (November 28, 2024 ip fray article) has already lost a few patents in China (December 3, 2025 ip fray article).
What’s new:
- Today, the Munich I Regional Court’s 7th Civil Chamber (Presiding Judge: Dr. Oliver Schoen (“Schön”)) was slated to hear an ASC v. Xiaomi case, but canceled the trial on short notice after a non-binding preliminary opinion by the Federal Patent Court of Germany that issued last week.
- Four Chinese patents held by ASC have recently been invalidated in total, and a fifth in part.
Direct impact: Serial losses can trigger settlements if the party on the receiving end of revocation decisions and negative non-binding preliminary opinions lowers its demands.
Wider ramifications: It appears that Xiaomi’s legal team (in-house and outside counsel) is in a strong position to predict outcomes when determining against what cases to defend vigorously (and when to settle).
Here are the Chinese invalidation decisions:
