NIPC Law

  Jane Lambert Patents Court (Mr Justice Mellor) Nador Cott Protection SAS v Asda Stores Ltd and another [2026] EWHC 553 (Pat) (12 March 2026) This was a claim by Nador Cott Protection SAS against ASDA Stores Ltd, and International Procurement and Logistics Ltd. for the alleged infringement of Plant Breeders' Right number 28016 by importing    Tang Gold oranges into the UK and retailing them to the British public.  The action came on for trial before Mr Justice Mellor on 25 and 26 Nov 2025.  By para [359]  of his judgment in  Nador Cott Protection SAS v Asda Stores Ltd and Another [2026] EWHC 553 (Pat), which he handed down on 12 March 2026, the learned judge dismissed the action. Issues His lordship set out the issues in the trial as follows: whether the Tang Gold fruit was a dependent variety of Nador Cott's ("the dependent variety issue"), and if it was whether Nador Cott Protection had lost its right of action because it  had  a rea...

Chongqing Municipal People's Auditorium Author Iswzo   Licence CC BY-SA 4.0   Source Wikimedia Commons Jane Lambert Court of Appeal (Lords Justices Jackson, Arnold and Birss)  Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd and another v ZTE Corporation and other s [2025] EWCA Civ 1383 (31 Oct 2025) This was an appeal by ZTE Corporation and others ("ZTE") against the decision of Mr Justice Mellor in  Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Another v ZTE Corporation and others [2025] EWHC 1432 (Pat) (25 June 2025) to grant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd ("Samsung"), the following interim declarations: "1. ZTE are in breach of their obligations of good faith under clause 6.1 of the ETSI IPR Policy. 2. A willing licensor in the position of ZTE, and in light of the undertaking given by Samsung, would enter into the interim cross-licence with Samsung on terms and including the sum to be paid by Samsung by way of royalty in respect of the interim licence period...

Author  Satoshi Nakamoto  Source  Wikimedia   Jane Lambert Chancery Division (Mr Justice Mellor)  Crypto Open Patent Alliance v Wright (Rev1) [2024] EWHC 1809 (Ch) (16 July 2024) Immediately after hearing the evidence and arguments in a trial to determine whether Dr Craig Steven Wright was Satoshi Nakamoto, the originator of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, Mr Justice Mellor announced on 14 March 2024 that Dr Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto. The question of whether or not Dr Wright was Satoshi Nakamoto had been an issue in two actions:  first an action that the  Crypto Open Patent Alliance ("COPA")  had brought against Dr Wright and, secondly, an action that Dr Wright and two companies that he controlled had brought against BTC CORE and others,   The learned judge set out his reasons for finding that Dr Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto in Crypto Open Patent Alliance v Wright [2024] EWHC 1198 (Ch) on 20 May 2024.  I discussed that judgmen...

Author Dori   Public Domain Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Patents Court (Mr Justice Mellor) Mitsubishi Electric Corporation v Oneplus Technology (Shenzhen) Co, Ltd and others [2021] EWHC 1048 (Pat) (26 April 2021) This was a trial to determine whether European patent (UK) 1925142B1  is essential to version 10.0.0 and all subsequent versions of TS36.322 of the 4th generation 3GPP Long-Term Evolution (“LTE’) standard.  The registered proprietor of the patent is SISVEL International S.A which is the second claimant in these proceedings.   The proceedings are part of a wider dispute as to whether the defendants should take a licence from the first claimant's patent pool ("MCP pool") on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory ("FRAND") terms.  As is often the case in FRAND disputes the defendant implementors denied the patent's validity, its essentiality to the standard and that it had been infringed.  They also disputed the fairn...