The English High Court tackled the thorny issue of the alleged infringement of a ‘standard-essential’ patent, and has found for the patentee.
Vringo Infrastructure Inc owns a patent (originally obtained by Nokia) relating to the process of soft handover of a mobile phone call between base stations when the phone moves between cells. The patent was declared as being essential to a number of 3G telecommunication standards.
The defendant – ZTE (UK) Limited – is a global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions. Vringo claimed that some of ZTE’s products infringed.
In a crisp and clear judgment, Birss J (no stranger to disputes of this nature) found that the patent was valid over prior art which included earlier standard related documentation, and infringed. Vringo successfully side-stepped allegations of being a patent troll – a question which the judge found to be prejudicial and irrelevant (where no competition law defence relating to Vringo’s acts was relied on).
So, a victory for Vringo, this decision will give continued encouragement to those holding essential patents to try their luck in the English courts.