Lenovo and Motorola face sales ban over patent row
A German court has ordered a sales ban on certain products from Chinese personal computer maker Lenovo Group and its smartphone subsidiary, Motorola, over a patent licensing dispute with US firm InterDigital, in the latest case to highlight intellectual property legal risks facing mainland businesses in the overseas market.
The Munich Regional Court recently handed down the decree, barring Lenovo and Motorola from selling selected smartphones and mobile devices equipped with Wireless Wide Area Network modules that InterDigital alleged had infringed on its patents, according to multiple reports.
In a statement published earlier this month, Wilmington, Delaware-based InterDigital, a tech research and development group that provides wireless technologies for mobile devices and networks, said Lenovo was “an unwilling licensee who has not acted in line with widely recognised FRAND principles”.
FRAND, for fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory, refers to a set of patent licensing terms designed to promote industry innovation and competition.
Yesterday, Lenovo told the Post it did not agree with the German court’s injunction and was appealing against the case.
“We respect the Munich court’s decision but do not agree with it,” Lenovo said in an emailed statement, arguing InterDigital did not act in accordance with FRAND terms when it came to the company or its third-party suppliers.
Lenovo said not acting on FRAND terms to allow access to standardised technology would come at the expense of innovation and reduce German consumers’ access to affordable products.
“We will continue to fight for transparency in licensing negotiations and against companies seeking excessive rates for their patent portfolios … InterDigital’s unreasonable global patent licensing behaviour and fees disadvantage German customers,” the company said.
InterDigital did not immediately respond to a request for comment yesterday. In an earlier statement, chief legal officer Josh Schmidt said the injunction spoke to the strength of the company’s portfolio and its contribution to tech standards, adding the firm hoped Lenovo would consider taking a fair and reasonable licence.
Smartphones have been removed from Motorola’s German website, which now only lists accessories such as wireless earbuds. Smartphones remain listed for sale across a range of websites for the firm’s other European markets, including France, Britain and Spain.
Lenovo and InterDigital have been involved in patent licensing rows in other markets before.
Last year, the UK High Court ruled neither company’s licence offer was in line with FRAND terms. It concluded at the time that, by seeking supra-FRAND licensing rates, InterDigital failed to act as a willing licenser, while Lenovo was a willing licensee “for the most part”.