Context: Chinese smartphone maker and African market leader Transsion recently settled a dispute over Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) and Unified Speech and Audio Coding (USAC) standard-essential patents (SEPs) with Philips (July 16, 2025 ip fray article). Transsion licensed the related patents from Via LA in the device maker’s first-ever patent pool license deal, and only its third known patent license in total after agreements with Qualcomm and Nokia (relevant section of July 22, 2025 ip fray article). Both Via LA and Access Advance offer regional rates designed to make licensing offers more palatable to companies like Transsion that primarily sell in low-cost, price-sensitive markets (July 22, 2025 ip fray article). But with Access Advance, a deal has yet to be struck: Transsion is being sued over High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC, or H.265) patents by NEC (in the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and Brazil), JVC (in Brazil) and Sun Patent Trust (in the UPC) (July 17, 2025 ip fray article).
What’s new: A fourth licensor of Access Advance’s HEVC pool is now enforcing HEVC SEPs against Transsion, and it’s Huawei. In UPC case no. ACT_28975/2025, Huawei is asserting EP2725797 (“Offset decoding device, offset encoding device, image filter device, and data structure”).
Direct impact: This new filing significantly ups the settlement pressure on Transsion.
Wider ramifications: It is unknown whether Transsion is presently licensed to other Huawei patents. By taking an HEVC Advance license, Transsion could demonstrate to innovators that regional rates indeed facilitate agreements. It is too late in this case to strike a litigation-free license deal (thus far, only Nokia is known to have sold a patent license to Transsion without litigation: January 30, 2025 ip fray article), but it would also be meaningful if litigation was at least short-lived.
Court and counsel
Munich Local Division, first panel: Presiding Judge Dr. Matthias Zigann, Judge Tobias Pichlmaier (formerly a presiding judge at two levels of the German court system) and Judge Stefan Johansson (Stockholm, Sweden; he presides over the Nordic-Baltic Regional Division).
Huawei is, for the first time, being represented by Bardehle Pagenberg’s patent pool tag team: Dr. Volkmar Henke and Dr. Tilman Mueller (“Müller” in German).
Counsel for Transsion has not entered an appearance yet. The complaint was formally received on June 20, 2025.