Lenovo must pay $138.7 mln for InterDigital patents - London court

InterDigital

16/03/2023 15:53

LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - China's Lenovo Group Ltd
 0992.HK  must pay U.S. technology firm InterDigital Inc $138.7
million for a licence for its portfolio of telecommunications
patents, London's High Court ruled on Thursday in the latest
round of a long-running dispute.
    InterDigital  IDCC.O  brought the lawsuit against Lenovo in
2019 over the terms on which Lenovo should take a licence of its
patents which are essential to 3G, 4G and 5G standards.
    The litigation, which has so far featured five separate
trials, centres on the fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory
(FRAND) terms of a licence for InterDigital's patents.
    Judge James Mellor said in a written ruling on Thursday that
previous offers made by both Lenovo and InterDigital – which had
offered $337 million for a six-year licence – were not made on
FRAND terms.
    He said Lenovo should pay a $138.7 million "lump sum" to
cover past and future sales of mobile devices from 2007 until
the end of 2023.
    Lenovo described the ruling as "a major win for the
technology industry and the customers we serve".
    John Mulgrew, Lenovo's chief intellectual property officer,
said in a statement the decision "reinforces FRAND's critical
role in facilitating transparent and equitable licensing
practices for standardized technologies".
    InterDigital's Chief Legal Officer Josh Schmidt welcomed
what he said was the ruling's recognition that "a licensee
should pay in full for the past infringement of standard
essential patents".
    However, he said in a statement: "We plan to appeal, as we
believe that certain aspects of the decision do not accurately
reflect our licensing program."
    London-based patent lawyer Mark Marfe, who was not involved
in the case, said the decision reinforced the High Court's
willingness to grant a global FRAND licence.
    China is the only other jurisdiction where courts have set
global FRAND rates for so-called standard essential patents.
    Marfe added that "all eyes will be on the Unified Patent
Court", a common patent court for European Union member states
which opens in June, to see whether it takes a similar approach.

 (Reporting by Sam Tobin
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((Sam.Tobin@thomsonreuters.com;))