Tom Moody-Stuart QC and James Whyte appeared for the claimant and Michael Tappin QC and Henry Ward appeared for the defendants in this patent action, one of a series of technical trials between these parties. This trial was to determine whether three of the claimant’s patents were valid and essential to telecommunications standards relating to 3G and 4G technology.
The defendants argued that the relevant claims of two of the patents were invalid for lack of novelty over a doctoral thesis published in 2004. The court agreed in respect of some claims, but held that each patent as amended contained other claims in issue which were novel and essential to the 4G telecommunication standard.
The defendants successfully argued that claim 1 of the third patent lacked priority because the scope of the relevant claim was wider than the invention disclosed in the priority document. The patent was found invalid over the prior art.
Accordingly the court gave judgment for the claimant in part.