Case by Case | The Hamburg Local Division provides further guidance on the relationship between patent pool and bilateral licensing, implementer willingness, and the scope of the FRAND defence

Patrick Newlands talks about a Hamburg Local Decision (LD) today from 24 August 2026. The LD issued a significant FRAND decision in Fraunhofer v HMD, rejecting HMD’s FRAND defence while providing guidance on when an implementer can insist on a bilateral SEP licence instead of taking a pool licence.The LD confirmed that an SEP owner can satisfy its FRAND obligations if it offers one FRAND-compliant licence, whether through a patent pool or bilaterally. Accordingly, where both routes are available, an injunction will not be defeated if at least one of them complies with competition law.If you have any feedback, questions, or comments, please email us at [email protected] all the episodes as we release them here. Follow us on LinkedIn.