Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Patent definition

What does Patent mean? A patent is a registrable intellectual property right used in practice to protect a technical invention by giving the owner, in the relevant territory, the exclusive right to stop others making, using, selling or importing the claimed invention without consent. In the UK (England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) and Ireland, the regime is statutory (Patents Act 1977; Patents Act 1992) and aligned with the European Patent Convention, so usage is broadly consistent. To be patentable, an invention must be new, involve an inventive step, be capable of industrial application and not fall within excluded subject matter (for example,...

SEPs and FRAND before the English Courts: global licences, rate-setting, injunctions, interim licence declarations and jurisdiction after Unwired Planet, InterDigital v Lenovo and Optis v Apple

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note

This Practice Note examines how standard essential patents (SEPs) and fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing feature in patent disputes before the Courts of England and Wales (the English Courts). It focuses, in particular, on the legal position following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling of 26 August 2020 in the combined Unwired Planet and Conversant appeals, and the practical consequences of that decision. For further information, see News Analysis: Supreme Court—English courts can determine terms of global licences for portfolios of standard essential patents (Unwired Planet v Huawei).

Since then, two further significant rulings on FRAND rates have been issued in England and Wales and have been the subject of appeal judgments, as noted below:

First, judgment was handed down on 16 March 2023 in the dispute between InterDigital and Lenovo following a High Court FRAND trial in January 2022. It offered additional guidance on several of the issues considered in Unwired Planet. The appeal judgment in InterDigital v Lenovo was handed down on 12 July 2024.
Second, the High Court handed down a judgment on FRAND rates (in redacted form) on 7 June 2023 (judgment dated 10 May 2023) in the dispute between Optis Cellular Technology and Apple...

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Matthew Raynor

Bristows

Matthew is a highly experienced IP lawyer with a particular interest in patent litigation in the technology, telecommunications and engineering sectors. He advises clients on UK and UPC proceedings and coordinates litigation with parallel actions in other jurisdictions. Matthew’s scientific education and enthusiasm for technology underpin his focus as a patent litigation specialist.With a strong technical background, Matthew is adept at navigating complex patent disputes across a wide range of technologies. Examples of highly technical subject matter underpinning his cases include Hadamard coding in cellular communications, switched-mode power converters in dimmable LED bulbs, inertial navigation systems used in military equipment, and cloud computing and infrastructure. Matthew has extensive experience in SEP and FRAND matters, having represented both patent holders and implementers in landmark cases, including Unwired Planet v Huawei, Conversant v Huawei & ZTE, Philips v Asus and Panasonic v Xiaomi & OPPO....

Matthew Hunt

Bristows

Matthew is an associate in the Competition & EU department at Bristows LLP, based in London.Matthew has been involved in a number of high-profile cases in the TMT sector. He was part of the team defending Google against an abuse of dominance claim brought by the online mapping company Streetmap, as well as the team representing Samsung in litigation issued by Unwired Planet relating to 'FRAND' aspects of standard essential patent licensing. He is currently involved in a number of on-going FRAND disputes, both for SEP holders and implementers.Matthew has significant experience dealing with the practical issues that arise during litigation, particularly in relation to: confidentiality; privilege; co-ordinating litigation across jurisdictions; and overlapping European Commission investigations, including disputes as to whether claims are follow-on or standalone. He has also spent time on secondment to the in-house litigation team of a leading...

Dr Sophie Lawrance

Bristows

Year qualified in UK - 2004Admitted in Republic of Ireland (non-practising) - 2016Advocaat bij de Balie te Brussel - 2021Sophie specialises in EU and UK competition law and litigation. She has a particular interest in working with businesses in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors, and in relation to the competition issues that arise in connection with standardised technology. Her practice spans all competition issues, but has a particular focus on litigation and investigations.Sophie has significant experience of competition litigation in the UK courts. She has been involved both in pure competition law actions, acting for both claimants and defendants, and in several substantial pieces of patent litigation in which competition defences have been raised. Sophie has market-leading experience of cases involving FRAND licensing obligations, acting for both implementers and patentees. Alongside this, Sophie’s case load to date has included defending...

Rachael Cartwright

Bristows

Rachael has experience working on a broad range of technical subject matters. Her background in physics lends itself particularly well to cases in the technology, telecommunications and engineering sectors. Rachael has worked on a number of cases in the telecommunications sector, and is interested in both the technical and associated FRAND issues involved. Since joining Bristows Rachael has worked on Unwired Planet v Huawei, Samsung and Google, Conversant v Huawei and ZTE, IPCom v Vodafone, Philips v Oppo and Panasonic v Xiaomi and Oppo. Rachael has also worked on cases relating to the use of electromagnet radiation in locating sub oceanic oil reserves, the use of MRI and Radiotherapy machines for cancer treatment, ships for transporting cement powder, synthetic diamond technology, automated warehousing, wind turbine technology and wellbore surveying technology....

Sam Harvey

Bristows

Sam obtained a master’s degree in physics from the University of Manchester in 2016. His final year project focused on using fractals to model the growth of cities. After completing his legal studies and training contract, Sam qualified into Bristows’ patent litigation team in September 2020.A background in physics has complemented Sam’s work on a broad range of litigation across the technology sector, including cases on wind turbines, standard-essential technologies (such as wireless charging and mobile communication standards), fibre-optic cables and software-as-a-service offerings. He has also been involved in UK litigation over FRAND licence terms.Sam has spent time on secondment to a Japanese SEP-holder where he assisted with co-ordinating global SEP litigation strategy and negotiating with potential licensees. ...

Ewan MacAulay

Bristows

Ewan qualified into Bristows’ patent litigation team in September 2022. Aided by an academic background in chemistry and nanotechnology, Ewan has worked on several projects across the life science and technology sectors, including cases on medical devices and ophthalmic medication. Ewan has also been involved in UK SEP/FRAND litigation, most recently in Philips v Oppo....

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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