Intellectual Property team secures UK Court of Appeal win for InterDigital

3 minute read
03 February 2023

The Intellectual Property team has secured another win for InterDigital, one of the world's largest mobile and video technology research and development companies, in its litigation against Lenovo. The UK Court of Appeal has upheld the lower court decision which held that Lenovo is infringing a valid and essential InterDigital cellular patent.

In July 2021, the UK High Court held that the patent-in-suit is valid, infringed, and essential to the 4G LTE standard. Gowling WLG  is also representing InterDigital for the "FRAND" issues, seeking determination of the fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licence rates for the InterDigital portfolio. These were heard in a five-week trial in January and February 2022, one of the longest and most complicated trials ever heard by the UK Patent Court. Judgment in the FRAND trial is pending.

This latest win confirms Gowling WLG's patent litigation team as one of the heavyweights in SEP/FRAND litigation in the UK. They have seen previous notable successes in this field such as securing the first-ever declarations on essentiality from the UK Courts, the first immediately enforceable injunction in a SEP case and early successes in findings of essentiality, infringement and validity. The patent litigation team works hand-in-glove with the award-winning EU and Anti-Trust teams enabling innovative case strategies for the benefit of their clients.

Alexandra Brodie and Matt Hervey, patent litigation partners and Felicity Wade-Palmer, patent litigation associate represented InterDigital in this case.

Commenting on the ruling, Alexandra Brodie said:

"We are proud to have supported our long-standing client, InterDigital, on this case and to have achieved another positive result for them, in particular one that is strategically important in their litigation both here in the UK and globally."

Matt Hervey added:

"We have been working with InterDigital on licensing and patent enforcement for over 15 years and we are delighted to have leveraged our telecoms experience and our detailed knowledge of the patent-in-suit to secure another win for InterDigital."

Gowling WLG has been a leading IP litigation firm for over 100 years, and its professionals are ranked globally as leaders in their field, while the firm's global Tech team is a trusted adviser to tech businesses around the world, from start-ups to global players.


NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Information made available on this website in any form is for information purposes only. It is not, and should not be taken as, legal advice. You should not rely on, or take or fail to take any action based upon this information. Never disregard professional legal advice or delay in seeking legal advice because of something you have read on this website. Gowling WLG professionals will be pleased to discuss resolutions to specific legal concerns you may have.