Economic Impact of the FRAND Injunction Issued in Unwired Planet vs Huawei

In Unwired Planet vs Huawei, the UK Supreme Court ruled that sanctioning a Global Frand rate with an injunction in the UK was justified and commensurate with the FRAND commitment. Against this background, this project embarked on assessing whether the issuance of a FRAND injunction was proportional to the value of the patents that justified the injunction.

Our Approach

We made use of the technical trials that preceded the FRAND cases. This allowed us to identify the patents that were found valid, standard essential and infringed. This informed our valuation model. Only a slight adjustment to the standard essential patent valuations the Court acknowledged itself showed a significant disconnect between the standard essential patents that gave way to the injunction and the cost of the injunction to Huawei and arguably the entire industry.

Impact

Our analysis showed a lack of proportionality between the injunction the Court issued and the value of the patents that justified the injunction. It invites for a further analysis of injunctions in light of English law and its quest for proportionality.