Hogan Lovells Publications | May 2018

Guangdong court issues new guidance for standard essential patent disputes

China is becoming an important battlefield in global disputes over the licensing of standard essential patents ("SEPs"). On 26 April 2018, the High People’s Court of Guangdong Province – home to many Chinese high-tech companies – issued the Working Guidelines on the Trial of Standard Essential Patent Disputes (Trial Implementation). The Guidelines propose a holistic set of rules that consolidate some international practices on SEP-related issues.  At the same time, they endorse the fault-based approach applied in two recent SEP cases in China, Huawei v. Samsung and Iwncomm v. Sony.