From Around the Blogs: Dutch FRAND Case, Fees 5 Years After Octane Fitness, and More

1.  On the IPKat Blog last week, Annsley Merelle Ward published a post by Léon Dijkman titled Dutch Court of Appeal injuncts unwilling licensee in first post-Huawei v ZTE FRAND decision.  The decision, Koninlijke Philips N.V. v. Asustech Computers Inc., was handed down on May 7, and Mr. Dijkman provides links to both the Dutch original and an English translation.  Mr. Dijkman notes, inter alia, that the defendant's "alleged willingness to enter into negotiations after the institution of the proceedings and a possible counteroffer in that regard cannot render the litigation abusive or trigger an obligation to stay the proceedings," and that the court "does not interpret Huawei/ZTE as obliging SEP holders to substantiate why their license offers are FRAND."    EPLaw also has a write-up, earlier noted on IPKat, here.

2.  Also on EPLaw (and earlier noted on IPKat) is a write-up, and link to an English language summary, in Graf v. Kaban & Daser, a decision of the Barcelona Commercial Court from last November, denying a request for an ex parte injunction against the exhibition of a device at a trade fair in Madrid.  The summary discusses the circumstances under which a patent owner should use a procedure known as a "preliminary verification of facts" to determine if a device infringes.

3.  Also on IPKat is a post by Peter Ling titled Does a “Launch At Risk” Automatically Exclude the Right to Appropriate Compensation for a Wrongfully-Issued Preliminary Injunction?  The post discusses a referral from the Metropolitan Court of Budapest to the CJEU, and AG Pitruzzella's opinion that the Enforcement Directive does not authorize member states to automatically deny compensation for a wrongly issued injunction if the defendant launched at risk (without having first sought to invalidate the patent in suit).

 

4.  As for the U.S., Ryan Davis published an article on Law360 last week titled 5 Things We've Learned in 5 Years Since Octane Fitness.  Citing data compiled by Nirav Desai, Mr. Davis presents descriptive statistics on the number of attorneys' fee motions filed and the grant rate post-Octane Fitness, and concludes that while fee awards have become more common, they are still unusual (as one would expect, given the statutory requirement that fees be awarded only if the case is exceptional).  Mr. Davis also discusses various factors that courts have considered in determining that a case is exceptional.