- Published 2026.11.08 05:55
Mutual withdrawal of UPC lawsuits wraps up dispute
Settlement reached amid conflicting royalty rulings in UK, China courts
Samsung Electronics has ended its global patent dispute with Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE by mutually withdrawing lawsuits over 4G and 5G standard essential patents (SEPs). The large-scale royalty battle fought in courts across Europe, the United Kingdom, China and other countries over the past two years has been resolved through an out-of-court settlement.
According to JUVE Patent, a European intellectual property publication, on Nov. 8, Samsung Electronics and ZTE recently withdrew their patent infringement lawsuits filed with the Mannheim local division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC). The withdrawal of the large-scale litigation without any claim for costs indicates that the two companies resolved the dispute outside of court. Related lawsuits pending at the Munich Regional Court were also withdrawn.
The patent dispute began in late 2024 after the existing license agreement expired and renewal negotiations broke down. In December 2024, Samsung Electronics filed a lawsuit with the UK High Court requesting a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) royalty determination for ZTE's global telecommunications patent portfolio. ZTE responded by filing patent infringement lawsuits in China, Germany and the UPC, and the two companies continued to fight by suing each other in courts in Brazil and the United States.
On the key issue of royalty amount, the UK High Court ruled in May this year that Samsung Electronics must pay ZTE $392 million (about 548 billion won) in a lump sum for five years of patent use. This amount falls between the less than $200 million (about 280 billion won) demanded by Samsung Electronics and the $731 million (about 1.023 trillion won) claimed by ZTE. On the same day, however, the Chongqing First Intermediate People's Court in China ruled in favor of ZTE, ordering Samsung Electronics to pay $731 million.
The two sides also fought in German courts. In April, the Munich Regional Court granted a sales ban injunction against Samsung Electronics in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by ZTE. Meanwhile, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the UPC Mannheim court invalidated some patents of both companies and stayed the proceedings.
In his earlier ruling, Judge Richard Meade of the UK High Court criticized the lack of a dispute resolution mechanism within the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) framework, calling it a "broken system." Amid ongoing criticism of excessive multinational litigation, the two sides reached a compromise, and all court proceedings pending in various countries have been concluded.
※ This article is an AI translation of the Korean original published by Korea Credit News; it was checked by automated quality guards and published by the English edition desk.
