50 most influential people in IP 2024: John Mulgrew

In contrast to the profile of InterDigital’s Eeva Hakoranta, some observers pointed out that the judgments of both the England and Wales High Court and England and Wales Court of Appeal (CoA) in the SEP battle between InterDigital and Lenovo did not spell entirely bad news for Lenovo.

For this reason, Lenovo’s head of IP John Mulgrew also deserves a mention.

The CoA, in its judgment this year, determined that the FRAND rate for InterDigital’s global cellular portfolio was $0.225 per device, considerably lower than the $0.49 rate sought by InterDigital on appeal.

The court also refused InterDigital’s request to declare that it was a willing licensor, noting that InterDigital had not identified any purpose that would be served by the court making such a declaration.

Of course, InterDigital and Lenovo later agreed to settle all pending litigation cementing both Mulgrew and Hakoranta’s influence in the FRAND market.