Welcome to the latest edition of the Sisvel Insights weekly round-up, aggregating news stories, analyses and data points affecting the SEP world that have caught our eye over the past seven days.

** Click here to get this newsletter delivered directly to your inbox every Monday **

It was an action-packed first full week of January in the FRAND/SEP world, and nowhere more so than at Sisvel. We announced that former Via Licensing President Heath Hoglund has joined the company as our first-ever Chief IP Officer. Among other things, he will assume overall responsibility for the firm’s global patent pool operation, working closely with Licensing and Programme Management heads Nick Webb and David Muus.

At Via Licensing and before that at Dolby, where he was VP of IP and Standards for a number of years, Heath proved himself an operator of the very highest calibre, delivering extraordinary outcomes time and again. He is well known for developing successful patent pools and driving industry adoption of collaborative, balanced licensing models that enable fair access to essential technologies while generating huge value for licensors and licensees.

Heath’s expertise will be pivotal as Sisvel expands its footprint and will allow CEO Mattia Fogliacco to dedicate more energy to shaping the company’s overall future. As Mattia says: “Heath makes what is already an outstanding team even stronger and his expertise will be instrumental as we work towards our strategic ambitions.” We are delighted to have him on board.

Elsewhere, Wilus secured an injunction against Asus from the Munich Regional Court in a dispute relating to Wi-Fi 6 SEPs; while Nokia and Hisense agreed a deal that ends litigation between the two in the video technology domain. There was also analysis of a potential dispute between the Western District of Texas and the Munich Regional Court, the world’s two busiest patent jurisdictions.

Please note that the inclusion of a piece in the list below does not signify agreement with what is stated in the linked article – just that we believe it is of interest and worth flagging.

Market

Sisvel has announced the appointment of Heath Hoglund as its first-ever Chief IP Officer, with responsibility for all the company’s patent pools on a global basis. Read more (Sisvel Newsroom). See also IAM 🔒 and Law360🔒

Nokia has announced a multi-year royalty-bearing licence agreement with Hisense covering the use of video technologies. Read more (Nokia)

InterDigital has renewed its licence agreement with a major Chinese vendor – reportedly Xiaomi – in a five-year deal covering cellular, Wi-Fi and HEVC technologies. Read more (InterDigital). See also IAM🔒

Roku has obtained licences to the Video Distribution Pool and HEVC Advance Pool operated by Access Advance, ending litigation with Dolby. Read more (IAM) 🔒

Oppo has joined the VVC Advance pool as a licensee and has extended its licence under the HEVC Advance pool. Read more (Access Advance)

Legal

The Munich Regional Court has granted Wilus an injunction against Asus in ongoing litigation between the two companies relating to Wi-Fi 6 SEPs. Read more (IAM) 🔒

In a decision handed down last summer, which has only come to light now, China’s Supreme People's Court ruled that the country’s courts have jurisdiction to review patent pool rates if there is a strong Chinese connection. Read more (ip fray). See also MLex 🔒

The UPC has refused to stay the enforcement of an anti-interim licence injunction secured by InterDigital against Amazon. Read more (MLex)🔒

Policy & Opinion

A summary of the European Parliament’s CJEU case against the European Commission’s decision to withdraw the SEP Regulation has been published. Read more (EUR-Lex)

The head of the UKIPO has discussed the possibility of the UK rejoining the UPC. Read more (MLex) 🔒

The UK’s Department for Business and Trade has published a draft post-Brexit Technology Transfer Agreements Block Exemption order. Read more (GOV.UK)

Tesla should walk away from its UK Supreme Court appeal and take a 5G patent licence from Avanci. Read more (ip fray)

It’s time for regulators to recognise the inarguable success of private sector-led, market-driven voluntary standards development. Read more (Richard S Taffet LinkedIn)

Strategy & Analysis

A dispute is brewing between two of the busiest patent courts in the Western world: the Munich Regional Court and the Western District of Texas. Read more (Roderick McConnell LinkedIn)

A continued shift from “concept” to “standard-mapping” prosecution was among the key SEP practice development of 2025. Read more (Fish & Richardson)

The best IP functions have adopted the same speed and adaptability that characterise world-class product and engineering organisations. Read more (IAM)