Thursday, March 11, 2021
Brainstorming: how do we get out of this quagmire of extraterritorial patent rulings and multi-antisuit injunctions?
International comity the notion that sometimes there should be deference to another country s courts practically died in the context of standard-essential patent (SEP) litigation last year when the UK Supreme Court ruled that British courts could force an implementer at injunctive gunpoint to take a global portfolio license on FRAND terms determined in London, regardless of whether it generates 99% of its sales in the rest of the world. Arguably, German courts previously contributed to this development by allowing SEP holders to insist on a global portfolio license and by justifying an anti-antisuit injunction with the sanctity of intellectual property rights as well as the concept of self-defense.