Michael Tappin KC appeared for the successful defendants (“Ericsson”) on an appeal by the claimants (“Lenovo”) against an order dismissing its application for an interim injunction to restrain Ericsson from doing acts which Lenovo alleged infringed one of its standard-essential patents (“SEPs”) until final judgment in the claim.
Lenovo’s application arose out of a wider dispute involving FRAND licensing terms for the parties’ portfolios of SEPs. Ericsson had obtained preliminary injunctions with respect to its SEPs against Lenovo in Brazil and Colombia. Lenovo sought an interim injunction in the UK which was stated not to take effect if Ericsson ceased enforcing its SEPs in other jurisdictions or entered into an interim licence.
The Court of Appeal dismissed Lenovo’s appeal against the order of Bacon J refusing to grant the interim injunction. The court held that Lenovo would be adequately compensated by royalties/damages if its UK patent was held to be infringed. Further, it held that there was a disconnect between the relief which Lenovo sought (an interim injunction to restrain Ericsson from infringing the UK patent) and the harm of which Lenovo complained (its losses in Brazil and Colombia due to the injunctions obtained by Ericsson in those countries). In the absence of any allegation that Ericsson’s actions were in breach of their obligations under the ETSI IPR Policy, Lenovo’s application did not invoke any relevant jurisdiction of the court.