Nokia Secures Comprehensive Victory in UK Appeal, Successfully Blocks Patent Litigation by Acer and Asus

Finnish tech giant Nokia secured a key victory on Tuesday at the London Court of Appeal in the UK, successfully blocking patent litigation brought against it by major tech companies Acer and Asus, which also means that the trials originally scheduled for June and July of this year have all been cancelled.

This case is part of a global standard essential patent (SEP) battle among tech giants over video coding technology. Previously, to counter Nokia's global enforcement efforts, Acer and Asus filed a lawsuit against Nokia in the High Court of Justice in London in June last year, seeking a court ruling for an interim licence on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. At the end of last year, the High Court issued a ruling in favour of Acer and Asus, determining that Nokia, as a "willing licensor", should agree to an interim licence before the court determined the final terms.

However, Nokia firmly challenged this ruling and filed an appeal. According to Reuters, the UK Court of Appeal issued a fundamentally reversed ruling on Tuesday: since Nokia has already offered to license its patents to the two Taiwanese companies on FRAND terms to be determined through arbitration, the litigation in London no longer needs to proceed. Therefore, the court decided to permanently "stay" the case, effectively terminating Acer and Asus's legal action in the UK.

In this cross-border legal battle, Nokia cleverly used the "arbitration mechanism" to turn a passive situation around.