Meta (Facebook) has recently faced multiple patent infringement lawsuits in Germany, brought by licensees of the patent pool organization Access Advance: the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) of South Korea and Philips. The lawsuits have been filed with the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and Munich Regional Court I. In one Munich case, ETRI is seeking a preliminary injunction against Meta, which could swiftly impact sales of the involved products.

On January 26, 2026, details of the cases were disclosed. ETRI asserted patent EP3258692 before the UPC's Düsseldorf division while asserting two patents before Munich Regional Court I. Specifically, the lawsuit concerning patent EP2723078 (image decoding device) seeks a preliminary injunction. This patent was upheld as valid by the German Federal Court of Justice on December 18, 2025, strengthening the rights holder's position in injunction proceedings. Philips has also filed a separate patent lawsuit in Munich.

This preliminary injunction application has drawn significant attention to the Munich court's stance. The court's Seventh Civil Division previously supported an injunction request in an SEP-related case on November 20, 2025. In the ETRI case, the court must assess whether Meta's potential FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) defense requires in-depth examination during preliminary injunction proceedings.

Additionally, Meta is embroiled in a multi-billion-dollar patent infringement lawsuit with Solos.