Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Indonesian court dismisses all four patent infringement complaints by Nokia against OPPO and affiliates, imposes costs on Nokia

Nokia has won two German patent injunctions against OPPO (the second one over a FRAND-pledged standard-essential patent), and it's now up to the appeals court--in that case, the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court--to decide whether both injunctions can be enforced during the appellate proceedings. Germany is a key market, but nowhere near as important to OPPO--at least in the short term--as Indonesia, where the Chinese smartphone maker sells huge numbers of devices.

In October I listed the four patent infringement actions Nokia had brought in the Commercial Court of Central Jakarta (Pengadilan Negeri Jakarta Pusat):

  • Case nos. 40/Pdt.Sus-HKI/2021/PN.Niaga.Jkt.Pst. and 41/Pdt.Sus-HKI/2021/PN.Niaga.Jkt.Pst over Indonesian Patent No. 000031184 (same patent family as EP2087626, which Nokia is asserting in Mannheim, and Indian Patent No. 300066, which Nokia is asserting in Delhi)

  • Case nos. 46/Pdt.Sus-HKI/2021/PN.Niaga.Jkt.Pst. and 47/Pdt.Sus-HKI/2021/PN.Niaga.Jkt.Pst. over Indonesian Patent No. 000030632 (livik.net media report; apparently from the same patent family as EP3396868, which Nokia is asserting in Munich)

Thanks to Google Chrome's translation feature I've been able to check on the status of those cases. All four of them were dismissed one week ago (July 5, 2022):

  • Case no. 40/Pdt.Sus-HKI/2021/PN Niaga Jkt.Pst

    JUDGMENT

    IN EXCEPTION

    Granting an exception from the Defendant

    IN THE SUBJECT MATTER

    State the Plaintiff's lawsuit is inadmissible;

    Punish the Plaintiff to pay the costs of the case estimated at Rp.1,980,000.00 (one million nine hundred and eighty thousand rupiah);

  • Case no. 41/Pdt.Sus-HKI/2021/PN Niaga Jkt.Pst

    (same decision status listed, but due to a technical issue the judgment is not displayed; however, the decision status indicates inadmissibility just like in the other cases)

  • Case no. 46/Pdt.Sus-HKI/2021/PN Jkt.Pst:

    JUDGMENT

    In Exceptions:

    Granting the Defendant's exception to the Plaintiff's lawsuit lacking a party ( Plurium Litis Consortium );

    In Subject:

    Declares Plaintiff's lawsuit is inadmissible;

    Punish the Plaintiff to pay case costs amounting to Rp.1.480,000,- (one million four hundred and eighty thousand rupiah);

  • Case no. 47/Pdt.Sus-HKI/2021/PN Jkt.Pst:

    JUDGMENT

    IN EXCEPTION

    Granting an exception from the Defendant

    IN THE SUBJECT MATTER

    State the Plaintiff's lawsuit is inadmissible

    Adjudge the Plaintiff to pay the costs of the case estimated at Rp1,480,000.00 (one million four hundred and eighty thousand rupiah);

[Update] Nokia provided the following statement: "The decision in Indonesia was made on purely procedural grounds - relating to which entities were involved in the case - and was not a substantive decision. It is in no way a judgment on the facts of our commercial dispute with OPPO." [/Update]

In other Nokia v. OPPO news, the London-based appeals court--unsurprisingly--preserves the UK judiciary's authority to set a global FRAND rate regardless of parallel proceedings in China.

It's been more than a year since Nokia sued OPPO (which it did within a few days of the expiration of a previous three-year license agreement). It's clear by now that OPPO is not a soft target. Last month, Nokia brought cases in two new jurisdictions (Sweden and Finland).