Unwired Planet v Huawei, Conversant v Huawei & ZTE: UK Supreme Court confirms Global FRAND licensing

Abstract

On 26 August 2020, the UK Supreme Court (the ‘Supreme Court’) gave its judgment1 in the appeals of two judgments of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales (the ‘Court of Appeal’) in Unwired Planet v Huawei2 and Conversant v Huawei & ZTE3. The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed both appeals in their entirety and endorsed the rulings of the lower courts on several key legal issues surrounding fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing of standardised technology, including the application of European competition law. This article will set out the background to the proceedings, summarise the key findings of the Supreme Court, and comment on the continuing importance of competition law in FRAND litigation. In the telecommunications sector, infrastructure equipment and devices produced by competing manufacturers must be able to communicate and interoperate with each other. In order to achieve this, Standard...