This week on MIP: Oppo v Nokia clash, UPC shake-up

An exclusive patent licence between Oppo and Huawei is invalid and cannot serve as the basis of a German infringement action against Nokia, the Finnish telecoms company argued in court yesterday, June 15.

Oppo asserted three patents, which it exclusively licensed from Huawei last year, against Nokia in the Munich and Mannheim Regional Courts in January.

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The Unified Patent Court will appoint more part-time judges despite the controversy over conflicts of interest, officials confirmed on Friday, June 9.

In the same announcement, the UPC also revealed plans for how the three central division seats in Paris, Munich, and Milan will split their cases.

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Non-practising entities may be annoying, but they are not stupid according to the head of an organisation set up to deter litigation-hungry companies.

Ken Seddon, chief executive of the US-based LOT Network, provided an overview of NPE litigation in the US at Managing IP’s Intellectual Property & Innovation Summit in London on Wednesday, June 7.

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Three technically qualified judges have resigned from the Unified Patent Court, officials confirmed on Thursday, May 14.

Grégoire Desrousseaux (France), Roman Maksymiw (Germany), and Kirsikka Etuaho (Finland) have left their posts.

Desrousseaux had previously announced his decision on LinkedIn. He attributed the decision to the judicial code of conduct adopted by the UPC in April.

The UPC has said it will appoint around 20 more part-time TQJs.

Meanwhile, the UPC has added more full-time legally qualified judges to its ranks. András Kupecz has moved from his job as a TQJ and will serve as a full-time judge on the Munich section of the central division instead.

François Thomas has been appointed to the Paris section of the central division, and Peter Agergaard to the local division in Copenhagen.

EU citizens are aware of the risks of buying counterfeits but many appear undeterred, according to an EUIPO study published on Monday, June 12.

Four-fifths of survey respondents believed counterfeits support criminal organisations and damage businesses and jobs. But 31% of respondents said buying fakes is acceptable when genuine products are too expensive.

The study incorporated 25,824 interviews with EU-based consumers aged 15 and above.

Sweden-based intellectual property firm Valea will now trade as Rouse, six months after it was acquired by the IP consultancy.

“We have been working hard over the past six months to bring the Valea and Rouse teams more closely together. We are now ready to take the next step towards fuller integration,” a statement from Rouse said on Thursday, June 15.

A group of major music labels sued Twitter on Wednesday, June 14, claiming the platform has “consistently and knowingly” profited from copyright infringement by allowing users to upload songs without permission.

The suit was filed at the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee by the National Music Publishers’ Association, which represents Sony and Universal, among others.

The association has requested statutory damages of up to $150,000 each for the unauthorised use of around 1,700 songs, which would total about $250 million.

That's it for today, see you again next week.