Alcatel Lucent v Amazon
[2025] EWCA Civ 43
28 Jan 2025
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In one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2025, the Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal by Amazon, enabling Amazon to seek an expedited interim licence from Nokia in a global FRAND licensing dispute.
In its Judgment overturning the decision of Zacaroli J, the Court of Appeal (Newey, Arnold and Snowden LJJ) recognised that Amazon had a real prospect of successfully arguing that “a willing licensor in the position of Nokia would agree to enter into, and would enter into, an interim licence to cover the period until the terms of the final licence are determined” at a trial commencing in October 2025 (see paras 54-72). The Court confirmed that this was so notwithstanding that Alcatel v Amazon concerns the ITU-T undertaking governed by Swiss law, whereas Panasonic v Xiaomi concerned the ETSI undertaking governed by French law (see paras 45-47, 64).
The Judgment is available here.
James Segan KC, Ravi Mehta and Femi Adekoya acted for Amazon, instructed by Hogan Lovells International LLP.
