Samsung Electronisc Co Ltd, Samsung Electronics (UK) ltd v. Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson, Unwired Planet International Ltd, Court of Appeal, London, UK, 27 May 2016, [2015] EWHC 2097(Pat)

Appeal by Samsung against part of the order of Birss J of 21 July 2015 which struck out one of Samsung’s competition law defences to a claim for patent infringement brought against it by Unwired Planet.
The core of the alleged anti-competitive conduct is Ericsson’s alleged strategic division of its original portfolio of SEPs and the transfer of part of it to Unwired Planet in such a way as to place Unwired Planet and Ericsson in the position of being able to extract unfair and unreasonable royalties from potential licensees, thereby harming consumers, competition and innovation.

The Appeal is allowed in part:

“It is arguable that in breach of Article 101 TFEU the MSA agreements fell short of a full transfer of the non-discrimination aspect of Ericsson’s FRAND obligation and that the anti-competitive nature of this breach renders the MSA agreements as a whole anti-competitive and void.”
A copy of the judgment can be found here.