Acer Incorporated and others (Respondents/Claimants) v Nokia Technologies OY (Appellant/Defendant)
Wednesday 22 – Thursday 23 April 2026
By Appellant’s Notice filed on 18 February 2026 Appellant ppeals a decision of the High Court delivered on 18 December 2025 and a consequential judgment on 30 January 2026.
This judgment concerns three implementer‑led actions by Acer, Hisense and ASUS against Nokia seeking declarations that the English court has jurisdiction to determine global RAND terms for Nokia’s video‑codec SEPs and interim RAND licence declarations.
The claimants manufacture H.264 and H.265‑compliant devices and undertook to take global RAND licences on court‑determined terms. Nokia challenged jurisdiction and opposed interim relief.
The principal issues were the legal effect under Swiss law of Nokia’s ITU‑T RAND declarations; whether the claims satisfied jurisdictional gateways (in particular Gateway 11); whether England was the appropriate forum; whether interim licence declarations should be granted; and whether there had been any material non‑disclosure on service out.
The Court held that Nokia’s ITU‑T declarations created binding contractual obligations—encumbering the patent rights—to make RAND offers capable of acceptance and to grant RAND licences.
The Court further held that Nokia had not behaved as a willing licensor and that interim licence declarations served a useful purpose in mitigating commercial harm caused by Nokia’s global enforcement campaign.
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