InterDigital, a US-based mobile, video and AI technology company, recently announced that it has obtained an injunction from the Munich District Court in Germany against Lenovo (including Motorola Mobility) due to its infringement of its patents on 4G and 5G devices. This results in a ban on the sale of Lenovo's 4G/5G devices, including cell phones and tablets, in the German market.

The Munich District Court found that Lenovo infringed InterDigital's patents relating to 4G and 5G devices, and that InterDigital wanted to offer licenses on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, but that Lenovo had not acted in accordance with generally accepted principles.

Josh Schmidt, InterDigital's chief legal officer, said, "After the court found that Lenovo's actions constituted delay, we hope that Lenovo will change course and ultimately obtain a fair and reasonable license."

The reporter learned that InterDigital holds several standard-essential patents recognized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute as necessary for 3G, 4G and 5G cellular technology standards. These standard-essential patents are the foundation upon which modern wireless communication technologies are built and are critical to any device manufacturer that adopts these communication standards. Lenovo implements technologies based on the aforementioned cellular network technology standards in its cell phones, tablets and personal computers, and InterDigital has attempted to license the standard-essential patents to Lenovo. However, the parties were unable to agree on the terms under which Lenovo would be licensed, and InterDigital filed a lawsuit against Lenovo in 2019 for patent infringement in a number of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

In March 2023, Judge James Mailer of the High Court of Justice in London, England, said in a written ruling that neither Lenovo nor InterDigital had previously made an offer that complied with fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory terms.

The court ultimately ordered Lenovo to pay InterDigital a FRAND rate of $0.175 per cellular device for a worldwide license to InterDigital's product portfolio. Lenovo is required to make a one-time payment of $138.7 million to InterDigital for devices based on the patents in question that it sells between 2007 and the end of 2023 at a license rate of $0.175 per device.

Because the price point was relatively close to what Lenovo had expected, Lenovo said at the time that the ruling was "a significant victory for the technology industry and for the customers we serve." Lenovo's chief intellectual property officer, John Mulgrew, also said in a statement that the decision "reinforces the critical role of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms in promoting transparent and fair licensing practices for standardized technologies."

However, this result has not been carried over to the current litigation in Germany, and sources say the ban affects a wider range of products, including tablets and laptops using mobile networks such as GSM, UMTS, LTE and 5G, as well as Motorola's smartphones and other mobile devices owned by Lenovo.

Some industry insiders said that the previous emphasis on Chinese enterprises actively responding to lawsuits and owning independent intellectual property rights can no longer fully satisfy the resolution of overseas patent disputes. It is recommended that enterprises seek diversified partners, build their own patent barriers, reduce dependence on external technologies by forming an "internal cycle" of patent licensing, enhance international competitiveness and market power, and reduce legal risks.