Samsung wins second round of patent battle with Unwired Planet

The English High Court has invalidated two patents owned by licensing company Unwired Planet in the second technical trial of its dispute with Samsung and Huawei.

On Friday, January 29, the court revoked two standard essential patents, European patents numbers 2,119,287 and 2,485,514.

The patents covered a method of smartphones identifying other devices within the same mobile network.

Handing down the ruling Mr Justice Birss said that both patents were obvious.

Both patents were obtained from Ericsson in an agreement finalised in 2013.

The dispute concerns the licensing company’s claim that Samsung and Huawei infringed six of its patents—five of which were obtained from Ericsson in the 2013 deal.

The court has scheduled five trials to determine the validity of the patents and a sixth to rule on whether the 2013 deal broke anti-competition law.

So far, the court has issued a decision in two trials.

In November, in what was referred to as ‘Trial A’, the court handed victory to Unwired Planet after ruling that one of the patents was valid. Friday’s ruling was referred to as ‘Trial B’.

Boris Teksler, chief executive of Unwired Planet, said: “We are obviously disappointed with the result but at the same time appreciate that the issues were extremely complex both from a legal and technical point of view.

“This setback has not diminished our faith in the European courts which we believe continue to serve as a model to the rest of the world on how to conduct complex patent trials.”

The third trial is due to start today, February 1.