The UK Supreme Court ruled that Tesla’s 2023 lawsuit against InterDigital and Avanci can proceed, reopening its bid to obtain FRAND licensing terms for 5G standard-essential patents.

The court held that FRAND obligations apply to pool platforms as well as bilateral licenses, rejecting the notion that pool offers are purely voluntary and outside FRAND scrutiny, stressing that commercial practice informs FRAND interpretation.

The ruling allows the case to return to the High Court for further adjudication on the FRAND rates applicable to Avanci’s platform and its terms.

The report notes the jurisdictional ruling and its implications for FRAND rate setting, without extensive background or procedural history.

Beyond automotive, the decision could have wide implications for SEP licensing across industries as pools and platforms become more central in telecom, consumer electronics, streaming, and IoT.

The ruling signals broader implications for licensing practices in connected-vehicle and standardised-technology contexts, potentially affecting competition and access to SEPs.

It may set a global precedent by limiting pools as shields from FRAND scrutiny, influencing SEP licensing in smartphones and IoT as well.

The ruling is limited to England and Wales; it does not directly change US patent law but has implications for US-based players in cross-border licensing disputes.

Neither Tesla nor InterDigital issued immediate comments on the ruling.

Avanci runs a platform licensing 89 companies, including InterDigital, for a single global FRAND license on 5G SEPs, typically with a flat per-vehicle rate, and it cannot license subsets of patents.

The decision preserves the possibility of FRAND determinations for pool-based licenses and could influence similar disputes across sectors.

InterDigital holds IP that is integral to the InterDigital licensing platform at the heart of the dispute.