Context: Various standard-essential patent (SEP) holders are enforcing their IP against mobile device maker HMD. The dispute with VoiceAge EVS is a particularly high-profile one. Earlier this month we were first to report on a pair of Chinese SEP injunctions that VoiceAge EVS secured against HMD (July 3, 2025 ip fray article). At an Indian court hearing, it became known that HMD offered Dolby only 1.5% of what the latter was seeking (March 20, 2025 ip fray article). HMD increasingly gets sued in the UPC as well, such as by French carrier Orange (which very rarely decides to enforce) and a company named Navigate wielding a Dolby patent (May 22, 2025 ip fray article). In section 8.2 of our latest UPC Roundup, we also listed a Huawei v. HMD case.
What’s new: Germany’s Fraunhofer institute, famous for its work in the audio codec space going back to the MP3 format, is asserting (at least) two audio codec SEPs against HMD in the UPC’s Hamburg Local Division (LD).
Direct impact: Fraunhofer, like Dolby and many others, licenses its audio codec SEPs through patent pools. At some point HMD may find it efficient to settle multiple cases at once by taking licenses from Via LA and/or Access Advance. Otherwise, HMD would need bilateral licenses sooner or later.
Wider ramifications: In a summary of key aspects of the Munich I Regional Court’s new FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing) guidelines (July 18, 2025 ip fray article), we mentioned that it may be held against an implementer if it has licensed only a low percentage of the patents essential to a given standard. Whether SEP holders suing HMD can get mileage out of that argument in the UPC remains to be seen, but there is a clear risk of HMD being perceived as a notoriously unwilling licensee.
These are the patents-in-suit:
- EP2380167 (“Apparatus, method and computer program for upmixing a downmix audio signal”)
- EP2609590 (“Apparatus for decoding a signal comprising transients using a combining unit and a mixer”)
Panel: Presiding Judge Sabine Klepsch, Judge Dr. Stefan Schilling and Judge Peter Agergaard (Copenhagen, Denmark).
Counsel for Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. (notably, a non-profit that uses its patent licensing income only to fund new research and development): Bardehle Pagenberg (lead counsel: Dr. Volkmar Henke).
Counsel for HMD Global Oy: Hogan Lovells (counsel of record: Oliver Baecker (“BĂ€cker” in German)).