InterDigital starts Lenovo FRAND war, plus reader discount at SEP Strategy Conference

Earlier this month, yet another SEP/FRAND case was brought in the UK.  This time it was filed by InterDigital against Lenovo concerning its 4G and 3G wireless technology.  Parallel proceedings were also commenced in the US (US District Court in Delaware - here) after the UK filing.  According to the press release, the claim was filed after almost 10 years of negotiations between the parties and more than 6 years since InterDigital last initiated patent litigation.  InterDigital is seeking a declaration that the terms it offered to Lenovo are FRAND, a determination of such a licence and a FRAND injunction.  For those telecoms nerds amongst us, according to the press release, the patents asserted are as follows:

• EP(UK) 2 363 008 – Enables the efficient control of carrier aggregation in 4G (LTE). In advanced mobile phones, carrier aggregation is key to achieving high data rates.

• EP(UK) 2 557 714 – Supports the use of multiple antennae transmissions in 4G (LTE). The patent enables the use of flexible levels of error protection for reporting by the handset, increasing the reliability of the signaling.

• EP(UK) 2 485 558 – Allows mobile phone users quick and efficient access to 4G (LTE) networks. One of the main technological challenges of developing LTE networks was efficient bandwidth usage for various traffic types such as VoIP, FTP and HTTP. This patent relates to inventions for quickly and efficiently requesting shared uplink resources — for example, reducing lag when requesting a webpage on a smartphone on LTE networks.

• EP(UK) 2 421 318 – Decreases latency during HSUPA transmission by eliminating certain scenarios in HSUPA where scheduling requests may be blocked. A blocked scheduling request may prevent a smartphone from sending data. 

With the Supreme Court examining the jurisdictional basis for setting global FRAND this October, and at least 3 FRAND determinations coming up in Q1/Q2 2012 in the UK, the debate on FRAND continues to rage.  

Perfect timing then for next week's SEP Strategy conference in Brussels on 10 September organized by Premier Cercle - details here.  With a Keynote speech by USPTO Director Andrei Iancu on moving towards a global patent system, and panel topics on the geopolitics of SEPs, Google's and Uber's approach to SEP  patent portfolios and pitfalls and solutions to over-declaration and essentiality, the conference promises to be full of debate.  IPKat readers benefit from a 10% discount using the code "IPKat19" and students can attend for free.  To register click here.