May 4, 2026, Commercial Times, Page A9
【Chang Han-hua】
The High Court of England and Wales made a first-instance judgment on May 1 (London time) regarding a dispute over standard essential patent (SEP) licensing between two major communication companies from South Korea and China. The court determined that after the licensing agreement expired in 2021, Samsung Electronics should pay ZTE a one-time global licensing fee of 392 million USD under the principle of fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, in order to obtain a license for ZTE’s mobile phone patents.
It is worth noting that the Chongqing First Intermediate People’s Court in China also made a ruling on the FRAND rate for the cross-licensing agreement between the two parties. The court determined that the licensing proposal proposed by ZTE, which lasts for six years with a total amount of 731 million USD, complies with the FRAND principle.
According to reports from foreign media, the two companies have filed lawsuits in many countries around the world. Although the amount decided by the UK court in the first instance is higher than Samsung’s claimed upper limit of 200 million USD, it is lower than the 731 million USD insisted on by ZTE. This is a first-instance judgment, and both parties may appeal. In addition, in rulings from Germany, Brazil, China, and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) of the European Union, the decisions have generally supported ZTE.
Judge Richard Meade of the High Court of England and Wales finally adopted a compromise amount between the claims of both parties. In this case, the UK court only used the “comparable license” method to calculate the rate and clearly rejected using the “top-down” method for cross-checking. The judge pointed out that although the court has the authority to use this method, it is “not obligated” to do so.
Compared with the UK judgment, ZTE has successively obtained favorable rulings in Germany, China, and Brazil. The judgment of the Munich Regional Court in Germany is of landmark significance. In February 2025, after evaluating ZTE’s licensing offer, the court rejected the infringement lawsuit filed by Samsung. This was the first time in the court’s history that a SEP defendant successfully won a case using a FRAND defense.
A patent analyst pointed out that the dispute between the two parties has already gone beyond ordinary business negotiations and litigation, and has developed into global judicial competition and a phenomenon of “forum shopping”. Samsung first filed a lawsuit in London in December 2024, intending to make the UK the center for global rate determination, while ZTE insisted on the jurisdiction of the Chongqing court. The conflict then quickly spread to multiple jurisdictions, including Germany, Brazil, the United States, and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) of the European Union.
According to reports, based on the current judicial situation, the overall development still tends to favor ZTE. In January 2025, a Brazilian court reinstated a preliminary injunction against Samsung, determining that it used delay tactics during negotiations. The Brazilian appellate court also rejected Samsung’s FRAND claims.
The Mannheim division of the UPC rejected Samsung’s FRAND defense on April 29 last year, and a federal court in California, USA, also dismissed Samsung’s FRAND contract lawsuit in February of the same year.