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 **

Last week was dominated by news of the UK Supreme Court’s decision in the closely watched Tesla v InterDigital case. In a unanimous judgment, a five-justice panel found that UK courts have jurisdiction to determine whether the terms of a pool licence are FRAND. In doing so, the court overturned previous decisions of the Patents Court and the Court of Appeal.

Tesla can now return to the Patents Court and seek a ruling on whether the royalty rate that Avanci is asking the auto company to pay to access the UK SEPs made available through its 5G programme, in which InterDigital is a participating licensor, is too much.

However, as Bristows’ Naomi Hazenberg and Patrick Newlands stated on the Kluwer Law Blog: “It is important to note that this is not a finding by the Supreme Court that pool or platform administrators are subject to the FRAND obligation, nor is it a finding that the only FRAND licence available to a particular licensor’s SEPs must be the global platform licence. The Supreme Court has only held that there are serious issues to be tried on these points, and those issues will now go back to the Patents Court to be decided on the merits. So, this is likely not the end of the story.”

Elsewhere, in an exclusive interview with IAM, Sisvel’s Head of AI Pools Willy Chang revealed plans to launch a licensing programme focused on optical interconnects, as well as an expansion of the scope of the previously announced Ultra Ethernet programme. There was information too from Dolby about the financials relating to the sale of Via Licensing’s HEVC/VVC pool to Access Advance and news that the company retains “the ability to exercise significant influence, but not control, over operating and financing decisions of Access Advance”. In Japan, meanwhile, the Tokyo High Court’s plans to offer what is known as SEP judicial mediation came under scrutiny.

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 a second AI-focused patent pool effort centred on optical interconnects, as well as an expansion of the scope of the previously announced Ultra Ethernet programme. Read more (IAM)🔒. See also MLex 🔒

Dolby has revealed that Via Licensing’s HEVC/VVC licensing programme was sold to Access Advance for a total consideration of $25 million. Read more (IAM) 🔒

The 44 licensors participating in the Sisvel POS patent pool collectively own more than 50% of all cellular SEP families, new data from LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions has shown. Read more (Sisvel Insights)

Qualcomm Technology Licensing booked over $1.2 billion in revenue for Q3 – a 3% decline on the same period last year. Read more (Qualcomm Investor Relations). See also IAM🔒

InterDigital has revealed a record $626 million annualised recurring revenue run rate in the announcement of its second quarter financial results. Read more (InterDigital press release). See also IAM 🔒

Licensing firm Longhorn IP has inked a 5G SEP licensing deal with Samsung Electronics. Read more (ip fray) 🔒

Legal

The UK Supreme Court has sided with Tesla in its FRAND claims against InterDigital and Avanci, which have been allowed to proceed at the High Court. Read more (UK Supreme Court press summary and full judgment). See also Kluwer Patent Blog 1, Kluwer Patent Blog 2, IAM🔒, ip fray and MLex🔒

Disney has disabled high-quality video capabilities on its streaming services in key European markets following a UPC injunction won by InterDigital. Read more (ip fray)

ETRI and Kyung Hee University have become the latest video patent owners to file infringement litigation against social media platform Snap. Read more (ip fray)

Policy & Opinion

The latest UPC decision in InterDigital v Disney is a useful reminder that streaming platforms are not only built on content, brands and distribution; they also depend on patented technical infrastructure. Read more (Romain Lobera, LinkedIn)

The SEP ecosystem will continue to evolve, but the industry should remain focused on a fundamental goal: creating an environment in which innovation is rewarded, adoption is encouraged and unnecessary friction is reduced. Read more (ip fray)

USPTO Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart has announced that she is leaving government to return to the private sector. Read more (Coke Morgan Stewart on LinkedIn)

Strategy & Analysis

The Tokyo District Court is attempting to put an end to Japan’s lost decade in SEP enforcement by rebuilding an old judicial tool for global licensing. Read more (MLex) 🔒

The High Court of England and Wales has revealed intriguing details about the imminent arbitration involving Nokia and Acer/ASUS that normally would remain hidden from public view. Read more (IAM) 🔒

What if the next major families of SEPs were to emerge from computing infrastructure? Read more (Cobelty newsroom)

The Munich I Regional Court received over 150 patent infringement complaints in the first half of 2026. Read more (ip fray)