InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[Paullee]

Part of a larger article on Frand during 2023
The English judiciary sought to establish more transparent conduct in SEP licensing negotiations.

In March, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales issued a FRAND determination in InterDigital Technology Corp. v. Lenovo Group Ltd., a multipatent infringement litigation in the U.K.

The court primarily used a comparable license approach to derive a rate for InterDigital's worldwide portfolio of 2G, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, and high-efficiency video coding patents, and did not rely at all on a top-down approach,[10] even though this methodology had been used more extensively in prior U.K. decisions such as Unwired Planet International Ltd. v. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. as a cross-check.

The court also rejected InterDigital's use of a "hedonic price regression."[11] InterDigital had sought royalties of between $1 and $2 per device, but the court determined a rate of just $0.175 per device.[12] That said, the court imposed this royalty rate over a 16-year period notwithstanding national statutes limiting patent damages.[13]

Additionally, the court made several notable comments lamenting the lack of transparency in SEP licensing discussions, including: "It is not FRAND nor is a licensor acting as a willing licensor if it refuses to provide the information necessary for a willing licensee to evaluate an offer which has been made."[14] In relation to this, the court noted that Lenovo was justified in seeking information about InterDigital's licenses with others, and that "it is clear to me that InterDigital's reliance on the confidentiality of the PLAs [patent license agreements] with companies like Samsung, Apple, Huawei and LG was less than helpful, let alone transparent."[15]

After the decision came down, InterDigital filed new patent infringement litigation on the video coding standards against Lenovo in multiple jurisdictions despite the U.K. judiciary's rate-setting determination. That litigation is ongoing, notwithstanding that InterDigital and Lenovo agreed to a multiyear license covering InterDigital's high-efficiency video coding patents.[16]

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/articles/1778635/the-year-in-frand-what-to-know-heading-into-2024?copied=1