Lenovo ordered to pay $140M for InterDigital patents – sees this as a ‘main win’

Lenovo should pay US patent holder InterDigital $138.7 million to settle a years-long licensing dispute for using applied sciences deemed important to 3G, 4G, and 5G communications.

The choice, handed down by London Excessive Courtroom Choose James Mellor Thursday, mandating the Chinese language OEM pay InterDigital a lump sum for all previous and future machine gross sales by way of the tip of the 12 months, was seen by Lenovo execs as a victory.

“Lenovo thanks the courtroom for its judgment in InterDigital v. Lenovo. We see this as a serious win for the know-how business and the shoppers we serve,” John Mulgrew, VP and deputy common counsel at Lenovo, declared in a press release.

That looks like an odd response from somebody that is been ordered to shell out a big chunk of money, however InterDigital had hoped to extract a fair bigger sum – to the tune of $337 million – from Lenovo for a six-year license. Nevertheless, as Mellor concluded, earlier makes an attempt by each events to settle hadn’t been topic to honest, cheap, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) guidelines.

As a result of the patents in query are important to mobile communication as we all know it, they’re topic to FRAND, which require IP holders to license the know-how at a good charge. And that is exactly what Lenovo alleged that InterDigital did not do.

“Based mostly on the end result from my comparables evaluation, I discover that neither InterDigital’s 5G prolonged supply nor Lenovo’s lump sum supply have been FRAND or inside the FRAND vary,” Mellor wrote in his judgment.

The choice marks the tip of the sixth trial between InterDigital and Lenovo. In keeping with courtroom paperwork, the primary 5 of those trials have been technical in nature, whereas the latest targeted totally on honest licensing phrases.

This trial might have ended, however, the authorized spat is probably not over so quickly. InterDigital’s chief authorized officer, Josh Schmidt, welcomed the courtroom’s determination, calling it the “first main SEP FRAND judgment that acknowledges {that a} licensee ought to pay in full.” However welcoming the choice and agreeing with all of Choose Mellor’s conclusions are two totally various things, it appears.

“We plan to attraction, as we imagine that sure facets of the choice don’t precisely mirror our licensing program,” Schmidt introduced in a press release.

If all of this sounds surprisingly acquainted, it is as a result of InterDigital has been on the coronary heart of nicely greater than its share of patent lawsuits – lots of which we have coated through the years. They embrace quite a few notable circumstances involving Nokia and its then proprietor Microsoft, Huawei, Samsung, and others. ®