On October 20, 2025, Judge Meade of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales issued an interim Anti-Suit Injunction (AASI) against InterDigital and four affiliated companies (hereinafter referred to as “InterDigital”).

This order was granted ex parte, without a hearing for InterDigital, to prevent InterDigital from interfering with or obstructing Amazon's ongoing critical litigation in UK courts by seeking injunctions or other relief in foreign courts.

Case Background

This case stems from a licensing dispute between Amazon and InterDigital concerning standard essential patents for HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding). Amazon initiated proceedings in UK courts on August 29, 2025, primarily seeking a global FRAND license for InterDigital's relevant patents. Key claims include: declaring Amazon a beneficiary of InterDigital's FRAND commitments; establishing InterDigital's obligation to license video coding standard essential patents on FRAND terms; requesting court determination of specific FRAND license terms (including royalty rates); and seeking declaratory relief on the invalidity or unenforceability of InterDigital's relevant patents.

In late September 2025, the Mannheim Regional Division of the Unified Patent Court and Munich Regional Court's 21st Civil Division separately granted InterDigital preliminary injunctions against Amazon. These injunctions prohibited Amazon from seeking compulsory preliminary injunctions in the High Court of England and Wales. They also barred Amazon from seeking declarations that InterDigital breached its FRAND licensing obligations by refusing to grant preliminary injunctions.

On October 7, 2025, Amazon applied to the UK High Court to accelerate the FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) licensing trial, moving the trial date forward to the first half of next year.

On October 16, 2025, Amazon filed an application with the UK High Court for an interim counter-injunction against “non-notified defendants.”

To ensure the UK proceedings remain undisturbed, Judge Meade ruled that prior to further hearings, InterDigital may not take the following actions in any court or arbitration tribunal:

1. Restrict, prevent, or prohibit Amazon from pursuing the Final Relief, this Anti-Injunctions Application (AASI Application), the Continuation Application, and the Expedition Application (or any part thereof); 2. Seek to compel Amazon to withdraw any of the foregoing applications (or any part thereof); 3. Seek to impose penalties on Amazon for pursuing any of the foregoing applications (or any part thereof).

Furthermore, the order explicitly informs InterDigital and its directors and officers that violating this order may constitute contempt of court, subjecting them to penalties including fines, imprisonment, and asset forfeiture. Any third party aware of this order who assists InterDigital in violating it may also bear the same liability.

This injunction was issued “without notice to the defendant.” InterDigital has the right to apply to the court within 7 days of receiving this order, upon 48 hours' prior notice to Amazon's counsel, to modify or vacate the order.

The court has scheduled a “Response Day Hearing” between October 28 and 30, 2025, to determine whether to extend this injunction or issue other directives.

Order attached: