Panasonic v. Xiaomi: the UK interim license

In Panasonic v. Xiaomi [2024] EWCA Civ 1143, the UK Court of Appeal established that a SEP holder’s FRAND obligation requires it to grant a global “interim” license to an implementer during the pendency of a FRAND rate-setting proceeding in the UK. This license permits the implementer to continue its business without the threat of injunctions against its products being issued in other countries while the UK court is determining a global FRAND royalty rate. The court also articulated the rule that a SEP holder’s pursuit of injunctive relief when the parties have agreed to accept a court’s FRAND determination constitutes bad faith and a breach of its FRAND commitment under the ETSI IPR Policy. Already followed in subsequent cases such as Alcatel v. Amazon and Lenovo v. Ericsson, Panasonic v. Xiaomi is likely to have a significant and lasting impact on the conduct of global FRAND litigation.