UK High Court invalidates Philips SEP

Abstract

Justice Arnold ruled on July 10 2018 in Philips v Asus and HTC (HP-2015-000063) that Philips’s European Patent (UK) No. 1 685 659, for “a radio communications system, method of operating a communications system, and a mobile station”, was invalid because of obviousness. According to a Bird & Bird blog post, HTC and Asus also relied on a District Court of The Hague finding that the Dutch designation of the ‘659 patent was invalid for obviousness in light of the Nortel submission. The judgment comes just two months after Arnold upheld the validity of Philips’s European Patent (UK) No. 1 440 525 patent, for a “radio communications system”, in the same case.