Acer Sues Nokia in UK
On June 11, 2025, Acer Incorporated and its UK subsidiary Acer U.K. Limited filed a lawsuit against Finnish companies Nokia Corporation and Nokia Technologies Oy in the UK High Court. Acer is represented by the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
However, further details regarding the case and the specific grounds for the lawsuit have not been made public at this time.
This action follows a statement titled “A Fair Deal for Innovation" issued by Philippe Lanet, Head of Consumer Electronics Patent Licensing at Nokia, on the company's official channels on April 1, 2025.
In the statement, Philippe Lanet stated that Nokia had initiated patent infringement lawsuits against Hisense, Acer, and Asus in German courts and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) in Europe. Nokia alleges that the defendants' smart TVs and computers infringe its video encoding patents, primarily related to H.264 and H.265 standards.
Furthermore, Nokia simultaneously filed lawsuits in the United States District Court and with the US International Trade Commission (ITC).
On April 7, 2025, the US District Court complaint revealed that Nokia accused the defendants of infringing five US patents related to H.264 and H.265 standards: US 10,536,714; US 11,805,267; US 8,050,321; US 9,036,701; and US 7,532,808.
Subsequently, on April 11, 2025, Nokia filed a Section 337 investigation with the ITC against the three companies. Nokia alleges that their importation into the US, sale for importation, or sale within the US after importation of certain video-capable laptops, desktops, handheld computers, tablets, TVs, projectors, and related components/modules violates Section 337 of the US Tariff Act.
Information from the Unified Patent Court (UPC) also shows that on March 31, 2025, Nokia filed patent infringement lawsuits against the three companies, including Acer, at the UPC's Munich Local Division. The patent involved in these UPC cases is EP2661892.
Speculation on Motives
Given the above context, it is highly possible that Acer's lawsuit against Nokia in the UK High Court represents a legal remedy sought after the two parties failed to agree on licensing terms (rates).
Considering the established authority of the UK courts in recent years in determining FRAND licensing rates, it is likely that the ultimate goal of Acer's current lawsuit is to have the UK court determine a reasonable royalty rate for Nokia's video codec technology patents.