On 12 May 2026, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales handed down its judgment in the Standard Essential Patent (SEP) FRAND licensing dispute between Nokia and Acer and ASUS, permanently staying the FRAND proceedings brought by Acer and ASUS in the UK; the trial originally scheduled for June to July 2026 has been cancelled.
On 12 May 2026, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales handed down its judgment on Nokia’s appeal. The case stemmed from a portfolio of standard-essential patents held by Nokia relating to ITU-T video decoding. As implementers, Acer and ASUS acknowledged the need to obtain a licence, but negotiations had failed to yield a resolution over several years. From March 2025, Nokia brought patent infringement proceedings against the two companies in Germany, the Unified Patent Court, the US, Brazil and India, seeking injunctions. In response, Acer and Asus filed proceedings with the High Court of Justice in the UK between June and July 2025, seeking a ruling on the terms of a global RAND licence and the grant of an interim licence.
Previously, in December 2025, the High Court ruled that the UK courts had jurisdiction over the case, refused to stay the proceedings, and partially granted the interim licence. Nokia lodged an appeal. The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s finding on jurisdiction, holding that although the FRAND claims sought a global licence, their legal basis was contractual obligations attached to UK patents; consequently, service abroad was permissible via ‘Gateway 11’, and this part of Nokia’s appeal was dismissed.
However, the Court of Appeal simultaneously permanently stayed the FRAND claims brought by Acer and Asus. Lord Arnold noted that the adjustable licence proposal put forward by Nokia constituted an objective RAND licence in itself, and that Nokia had fulfilled its FRAND obligations; the implementers were not compelled to enter into arbitration, but faced a choice—to accept the RAND licence (and thereby agree to arbitration) or to reject it; rejection indicated an unwillingness to accept the RAND licence, and they were not entitled to seek a court ruling on the terms; SEP owners are entitled to choose the RAND terms and dispute resolution method most favourable to them, and inconsistencies in their position across different cases do not constitute a breach of the law. On this basis, the Court of Appeal held that the implementers’ FRAND claims had no realistic prospect of success, and the High Court’s previous interim licence declaration was consequently set aside.
It is worth noting that whilst the Court of Appeal upheld the service of ‘Gateway 11’, it overturned the High Court’s findings regarding ‘Gateway 16A’ and ‘Gateway 4A’, a move interpreted by observers as a limited correction to the expansion of UK FRAND jurisdiction. Furthermore, the FRAND rate previously determined by the UK High Court is only about half that recognised in China, Germany, Brazil and the Unified Patent Court; this disparity may further undermine the UK’s appeal in the global resolution of SEP disputes.
Case Background
The global patent litigation between Nokia and Asus and Acer began in April 2025 and has now spread to multiple countries.
In early April 2025, Nokia took the lead in filing lawsuits against Asus and Acer in Germany and at the Unified Patent Court (UPC), alleging that their computers and smart TVs infringed video coding patents;
On 11 April 2025, the dispute expanded to the United States. Nokia filed lawsuits against Acer and other companies in several federal district courts and filed a Section 337 complaint with the US International Trade Commission, seeking an import ban;
On 13 June 2025, the litigation extended to India, with Nokia filing a lawsuit against Hisense and Acer in the Delhi High Court, later adding Asus as a defendant;
In retaliation, Acer and Hisense filed lawsuits against Nokia in the High Court of England and Wales in June, followed by Asus in July;
On 7 November 2025, Acer filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nokia in the Munich Regional Court, alleging that Nokia had infringed its standard-essential patent for 4G technology (EP 2 451 225);
On 18 December 2025, the High Court of Justice granted a provisional licence to Asus, Acer and Hisense, ordering them to pay Nokia US$0.365 for each device sold; Nokia lodged an appeal against this decision;
On 22 January 2026, the First Regional Court of Munich, Germany, found that Asus and Acer had infringed Nokia’s patents relating to video coding technology by implementing them in their devices without authorisation, and issued an injunction;
On 8 May 2026, the 10th Civil Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, dismissed Asus’s application to set aside the interim injunction and upheld the interim injunction previously imposed on Asus;
On 12 May 2026, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ruled on Nokia’s appeal, upholding the High Court’s determination on jurisdiction and permanently dismissing Acer and Asus’s FRAND claims.
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