Munich Regional Court validates Sisvel Wi-Fi royalty rates as FRAND

The Munich Regional Court’s 7th Civil Chamber has judged pool rates offered by Sisvel for Wi-Fi technology to be fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND). This ruling by a world-leading patent adjudication body is a major validation of licence terms offered under Sisvel’s recently launched Wi-Fi Multimode programme.

Sisvel pool licensor Wilus, an independent R&D lab based in South Korea, secured an injunction from the Munich court against multinational technology brand Asus based on infringement of a Wi-Fi 6 standard essential patent (SEP) in early January. Full text of the decision became public last week. The defendant has the right to appeal.

The three-judge panel found that all offers made by Sisvel to Asus for both a pool licence and a Wilus portfolio licence were FRAND. The court emphasised that the existence of similar comparable agreements is a strong indication that an offered rate is FRAND, while in this case it carried out a “control top-down analysis” of Sisvel’s publicly listed pool rates for Wi-Fi 6, concluding that they fall within the FRAND range.

Sisvel Chief Intellectual Property Officer Heath Hoglund welcomed the decision: “We are obviously pleased to see the Munich Regional Court’s determination that the Sisvel Wi-Fi pool rates are FRAND. Our transparent royalty structure for Wi-Fi licensing has been accepted by many of the market’s biggest players, including Acer, Netgear, Cisco and HP. This ruling is further validation both of our programme and of our licensors’ commitment to FRAND licensing through the Sisvel Wi-Fi Multimode pool.”

The Sisvel Wi-Fi Multimode pool, launched last month to succeed the Wi-Fi 6 programme, offers unchanged rates for Wi-Fi 6 devices while expanding the number of participating patent owners to 10 and introducing Wi-Fi 7 coverage.