The EU Court of Justice finds that a holder of a standard-essential patent may abuse a dominant position by seeking to enjoin infringement (Huawei / ZTE)

On July 16, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU” or “the Court”) issued its long-awaited judgment in Huawei Technology Co. Ltd v ZTE Corp., ZTE Deutschland GmbH. The CJEU found that the holder of a standard essential patent (“SEP”) may, in certain circumstances, abuse its dominant position in seeking to enjoin the implementation of technology reading on its SEPs by an alleged infringer. On April 5, 2013, the Landgericht Düsseldorf referred five questions to the CJEU in connection with Huawei’s action against ZTE in Germany for allegedly infringing one of its Long-Term Evolution SEPs. As a result, the CJEU has, for the first time, considered whether, and in what circumstances, the holder of a SEP (who has committed to grant licences on fair, reasonable and