http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2020/05/new-bgh-ruling-to-harmonize-frand-case.html
| About to enter a new FRAND-era? Time will tel! |
A six- year long legal dispute between Sisvel and Haier, concerning the question of injunctive relief for infringement of cellular Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) EP 0 852 885 (“885”), owned by Sisvel, has been brought to an end by the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH), in a decision, rendered on May 5, 2020.
The BGH ruled that Haier had acted as an unwilling licensee in FRAND negotiations, thus not fulfilling the requirements for a compulsory license.
Previously, on March 10, 2020, the BGH had confirmed that patent EP 885 was valid. On April 28, 2020, the same court confirmed the validity of yet another Sisvel patent, namely EP 1 264 504.
The BGH announced that in the infringement proceedings of EP 885, the decision of the Appeal Court in Düsseldorf from March 2017, is reversed in relation to the finding on costs and insofar as the decision was to the detriment of the plaintiff (Sisvel). The Appeal Court had reached the conclusion that infringement had taken place but, at the same time, accepted Haier’s claim, namely the antitrust objection to a justified compulsory license (see here the IPKat post on the Appeal Court ruling)
This is the first FRAND decision to reach the BGH since the CJEU decision Huawei ./. ZTE of 16 July 2015 (C-170/13) and thus there are high expectations that this ruling will harmonize FRAND case-law in Germany. IPKat looks forward to receiving the full decision within the next three to six weeks in order to better assess its impact.
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