{"id":745,"date":"2024-07-25T06:10:23","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T06:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/?p=745"},"modified":"2024-07-25T06:10:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T06:10:23","slug":"qualcomm-sues-smartphone-volume-giant-transsion-in-upc-extending-patent-enforcement-campaign-that-surfaced-in-india-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/qualcomm-sues-smartphone-volume-giant-transsion-in-upc-extending-patent-enforcement-campaign-that-surfaced-in-india-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Qualcomm sues smartphone volume giant Transsion in UPC, extending patent enforcement campaign that surfaced in India first"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Context:<\/strong> This month, Qualcomm’s patent enforcement campaign against Transsion, which is one of the world’s highest-volume smartphone makers and has a license only to Qualcomm’s 5G standard-essential patents (SEPs), became known (mid-July LinkedIn post by ip fray<\/strong><\/a>). Qualcomm is asserting non-SEPs and could apparently also sue over patents declared essential to other standards than 5G.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s new:<\/strong> A first Qualcomm v. Transsion<\/em> patent infringement lawsuit in Europe has been discovered. In the Unified Patent Court’s (UPC) Hamburg Local Division (LD), Qualcomm is asserting a satellite positioning system patent against Transsion and some of its German and Dutch resellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Direct impact:<\/strong> Transsion sells most of its phones in such markets as India and Africa, and is a fairly little-known brand in Europe by now. At first sight, it appears that Transsion would rather leave a market (or set of markets) in which its presence is almost negligible than commit to a royalty rate that would adversely impact its competitiveness in other world regions. If even OPPO and vivo made that determination, the case would likely be stronger and clearer for Transsion. It’s fairly possible that Qualcomm does not expect to gain decisive leverage in the UPC, but hopes to achieve other goals, such as battle-testing patents with a view to future disputes with other parties and\/or obtaining persuasive authority for jurisdictions in which Transsion has a high market share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wider ramifications:<\/strong> Patent disputes in which the defendant is licensed to some but not all of the plaintiff’s patents are few and far between. Total-portfolio licensing is prevalent, “Balkanization” or piecemeal resolution<\/em><\/strong> a rare exception. The last prominent case in which a defendant held a SEP license but was sued over non-SEPs was Nokia v. HTC<\/em> (2012-2014). In the Qualcomm-Transsion case, the situation appears even more fragmented, as the budget phone maker may not even be licensed to Qualcomm’s pre-5G cellular SEPs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The defendants are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n