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ARTICLE · 13 OCTOBER 2021

UK Court Rules Apple Must Unconditionally Commit To A FRAND License To Avoid An Injunction

J A Kemp
J A Kemp
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J A Kemp

J A Kemp

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In a recent judgment (Optis Cellular Technology LLC & Ors v Apple Retail UK Ltd & Ors [2021] EWHC 2564 (Pat), 27 September 2021), Meade J, sitting in the England and Wales High Court,...

United KingdomIntellectual Property
Dominic Forsythe
Dominic Forsythe
Mark Roberts
Mark Roberts
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In a recent judgment (Optis Cellular Technology LLC & Ors v Apple Retail UK Ltd & Ors [2021] EWHC 2564 (Pat), 27 September 2021), Meade J, sitting in the England and Wales High Court, gave a decision in a series of trials relating to eight of Optis's patents in the field of telecommunications.  Each of these patents is asserted to be a standard-essential patent (SEP) and was declared to the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI).

In two of the earlier trials (Trials A and B), it was found that Apple did indeed infringe two of Optis's SEPs.  The present decision (Trial F) is concerned with Optis seeking an injunction to restrain Apple from continuing to infringe Optis's patents.  A further trial, Trial E, to determine the FRAND terms themselves, is set to take place in June/July 2022.

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