The Chinese company Huawei has apparently become the first company to file a patent infringement suit based on a standard essential patent in the new European Unitary Patent Court (UPC), according to a report in the IAM magazine.
So-called “Standard Essential Patents” (abbreviated to SEPs) are patents protecting a technology required to comply with a technical standard, such as telecommunications or automotive standards. These technical standards are used by industry to ensure compatibility and interoperability of their products and services. Such standards are developed by standard-setting organizations, which often require their members to disclose the relevant patents or patent applications and agree to grant licences on their SEPs incorporated into the standard. Such SEPs can often become some of the most valuable patents in a company’s patent portfolio.
The patent in dispute – EP 3 611 989 – is for a “method and apparatus for transmitting wireless local area network information”. It was originally filed in Europe in 2016 and is based on a Chinese national patent application. The granted European patent has been validated in many UPC-contracting states.
The defendant in the dispute is the US company Netgear and its German subsidiary. They are already being sued by Huawei in both Germany and China, and the filing appears to be part of the two companies’ existing SEP battle concerning Wi-Fi standards.
The case has been filed in the Munich local division of the UPC which is reported to be the most popular location for filing patent disputes. This is probably due to the experience of the local judges who have gained an excellent reputation in the past few years, as we at Sonnenberg Harrison can testify from personal experience. We’ll be following this case and the other cases in the new court system to understand how the UPC will be handling patent infringement disputes.
If you are interested in understanding more about standard-essential patents, or patent litigation in Europe, then do get in touch.
