On January 19, 2026, the Mannheim Regional Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) issued a new ruling in the standard-essential patent (SEP) infringement dispute between Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Huawei”) and Finnish mobile phone manufacturer HMD Global Oy (hereinafter referred to as “HMD”). The ruling explicitly places all information related to the parties' FRAND licensing negotiations under a unified confidentiality regime.
The court noted that the parties' previous litigation documents contained substantial undisclosed licensing negotiation details, including specific commercial terms and business data from the negotiation process. To prevent parties from repeatedly applying for similar confidentiality rulings each time new materials are submitted, the court proposed establishing a general confidentiality order. This order would uniformly place all specific information concerning FRAND negotiations under the confidentiality scope defined in Rule 262A of the Unified Patent Court Rules. This determination applies not only to documents already submitted but also to any relevant content that may arise in future proceedings.
On January 15, 2026, Huawei stated that both parties had reached an out-of-court settlement on this matter, generally supporting this approach while suggesting the establishment of an objection mechanism allowing the opposing party to challenge improper redactions or unreasonable confidentiality designations within one week. HMD subsequently confirmed this settlement outcome.
Regarding access rights, the unredacted confidential documents may only be reviewed by the opposing party's authorized attorneys and their team members. Where necessary, access may be extended to relevant employees of the opposing party or authorized third parties, provided such individuals require knowledge for case-related purposes and have signed ongoing, valid confidentiality agreements or are bound by confidentiality obligations no less stringent than those in the 2019 confidentiality agreement signed by both parties. All relevant personnel are prohibited from using this information for any purpose outside this case or disclosing it externally. This confidentiality obligation shall remain in effect even after the conclusion of the litigation.
The court further emphasized that if a party believes certain information requires a higher level of protection—such as information involving third-party licensing agreements—it may separately apply for stricter confidentiality measures. If a party believes the opposing party has erroneously marked non-confidential information as confidential or made unreasonable redactions, it may raise an objection within one week of receiving the documents. Until the court issues a final decision, the relevant information shall be temporarily treated in accordance with confidentiality standards.
Case Background
In November 2022, Huawei filed multiple patent infringement lawsuits against HMD in the Munich Regional Court, alleging that HMD used Huawei's 4G/5G standard-essential patents in its Nokia-branded mobile phones. The patents in question include EP 3573392, EP 2528366, and EP 3407519.
In autumn 2023, the Munich Regional Court issued rulings on the EP 3573392 and EP 3407519 cases, finding that HMD's relevant products did not constitute infringement. (Case Nos. 21 O 13091/22 and 21 O 14266/22)
In March 2025, the infringement lawsuit concerning EP 2528366 was also dismissed by the Munich Regional Court. The court determined that HMD's mobile devices did not constitute indirect infringement and did not rule on the FRAND defense. Concurrently, the German Federal Patent Court issued a partial invalidation decision regarding this patent.
During the pendency of the above cases, HMD initiated infringement proceedings against Huawei in the Mannheim Regional Court, Germany, based on its patent EP 2181559 (Case No. 2 O 6/23). The court dismissed the case, and HMD subsequently withdrew its appeal.
On June 16, 2025, Huawei filed a new patent infringement lawsuit (Case No.: UPC_CFI_481/2025) with the Unified Patent Court (UPC), assigned to the Mannheim Regional Division.
