The Düsseldorf Regional Court rules on the requirements of an antitrust defence against an SEP holder in light of the ECJ’s judgment (Sisvel / Haier)

A strict approach to applying the principles established in Huawei/ZTE, in particular as regards the prompt provision of security and a statement of account of past use, resulted in the defendant losing the right to raise a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) defence. In detail The lawsuit concerns a patent in the field of wireless telecommunication and relates to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard. The claimant considers that the patent is infringed where a device implements the UMTS standard. It therefore provided a FRAND declaration vis-à-vis ETSI that it is ready to license the patent in suit under FRAND terms. The Düsseldorf Court ruled on the application of the test established in Huawei/ZTE [1] and provided guidance on the details.