UK Court of Appeal Rules on Side of Fairness in Ongoing Lenovo v InterDigital Case
July 12 2024 - 7:37AM
Business Wire
The UK Court of Appeal today ruled in the ongoing landmark case
between InterDigital and Lenovo for license rates for 3G, 4G, and
5G patents, ruling a limited and very modest uplift of the original
royalty rate to 22.5 US cents per unit, only 6.5 cents higher than
what Lenovo argued at trial was Fair, Reasonable, and
Non-Discriminatory (FRAND).
The amount ruled on appeal is only 5 US cents off the rate set
by Justice Mellor (17.5 US cents), but significantly less than half
(27 US cents lower) the 49-50 US cents rate that InterDigital
sought as a per-unit rate both at trial and appeal. Beyond the
royalty rate, Justice Mellor’s original ruling otherwise remained
undisturbed, including his determination of InterDigital’s un-FRAND
conduct. As further evidence of its willingness and commitment to
FRAND licensing, Lenovo is publicly offering InterDigital 22.5 US
cents per cellular unit for a forward-looking license and hope this
fully resolves the parties’ disputes.
Commenting on the ruling, Lenovo’s John Mulgrew, Vice President,
Deputy General Counsel & Chief Intellectual Property Officer,
welcomes the decision:
“We are pleased with the Court’s commitment to confirm fair,
reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms for licensing, and are
encouraged by what this decision means for ongoing negotiations
with InterDigital, wider industry IP litigation cases, and most
importantly, how this facilitates the proliferation of affordable
innovation to customers around the world. Given the decision is far
closer to Lenovo’s original position than InterDigital’s, we
believe this is a further win for Lenovo and reinforces our
continued commitment to FRAND licensing and being a willing
licensee in the face of supra-FRAND offers and behavior.”
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a US$57 billion revenue global technology powerhouse,
ranked #217 in the Fortune Global 500, and serving millions of
customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to
deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success
as the world’s largest PC company with a pocket-to cloud portfolio
of AI-enabled, AI-ready, and AI-optimized devices (PCs,
workstations, smartphones, tablets), infrastructure (server,
storage, edge, high performance computing and software defined
infrastructure), software, solutions, and services. Lenovo’s
continued investment in world-changing innovation is building a
more equitable, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone,
everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under
Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY). To find out more
visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via
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Stuart Gill +44 (0)7917 437 532 sgill@lenovo.com