Huawei and AVM settle Wifi 6 dispute shortly before Munich hearing

AVM, the manufacturer of a wifi router known as FritzBox, has reached a settlement with Huawei. According to the latter company, Huawei has withdrawn all five patent infringement lawsuits against AVM that it filed with the Munich Regional Court between 2022 and 2024.

Both companies confirmed an agreement in the dispute at the request of JUVE Patent. However, neither Huawei nor AVM provided any precise details. The development suggests that AVM has concluded a licence agreement with the Chinese mobile communications giant.

The lawsuits against AVM were part of a large-scale campaign, whereby Huawei has tried to enforce its Wifi 6 patents against several users since 2022. In addition to FrtizBox manufacturer AVM, this included Amazon, Netgear and car manufacturer, Stellantis. The Netherlands-based company manufactures about six million cars a year under the Fiat, Opel, Peugeot and Citroën brands.

Tobias Hessel

Huawei ramps up the pressure

In late 2022, Huawei filed two lawsuits against AVM with the Munich Regional Court over EP 3 337 077 (case ID: 21 O 2576/22) and EP 3 241 300 (case ID: 7 O 2578/22). Then, in March 2023, the 7th Civil Chamber of the Munich Regional Court under presiding judge Oliver Schön dismissed Huawei’s claim regarding infringement of EP 300. Huawei appealed to the Munich Higher Regional Court.

Last November, the 21st Civil Chamber of the same court under presiding judge Georg Werner upheld Huawei’s claim regarding EP 077 and ordered an injunction. AVM appealed against this to the Munich Higher Regional Court.

Although the pressure on AVM was already high after the ruling, Huawei followed up with more infringement claims based on two further patents. In March 2024 Huawei ramped up a gear, launching a fifth lawsuit including a preliminary injunction after it accused AVM of infringing EP 3 334 112 (case ID: 7 O 2991/24 and 7 O 2218/24).

In December 2023, the Munich Regional Court had ordered an injunction against wifi routers manufactured by Amazon and Eero that were based on EP 112. Huawei directly enforced the ruling.

Meanwhile, AVM filed a nullity suit against four patents at the German Federal Patent Court. There was not enough time before the settlement for a fifth nullity action against EP 112.

Friedrich Emmerling

Last one standing

AVM and Huawei did not comment on the reasons behind the surprising settlement. However, the Munich Regional Court would have heard Huawei’s action for infringement of EP 3 657 749 this Wednesday (case ID: 21 O 5097/23), had it gone ahead.

Stellantis and Amazon had previously reached a settlement with Huawei in the Wifi 6 dispute, meaning Netgear remains as the only one of four companies originally sued.

Two lawsuits are pending at Düsseldorf’s regional court and the higher regional court, respectively.

Martin Körber

In addition, Huawei increased the pressure on Netgear with two UPC lawsuits (ACT_18917/2023 and ACT_459771/2023) over EP 3 678 321 and EP 3 611 989. The Munich local division will hear the case on the latter patent on 18 and 19 June. This is likely to be one of the UPC’s first hearings on a main action, and one of its first hearings over an SEP.

Clifford Chance and Bird & Bird for Huawei

A Clifford Chance team led by Düsseldorf partner Tobias Hessel is leading proceedings for Huawei against Netgear. The defendant, on the other hand, is relying on Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in the national lawsuits and at the UPC.

Wolfgang Götz

The Clifford Chance team also handled the lawsuits against AVM, supported by several patent attorney firms. These included a team from Mitscherlich & Partner led by Martin Körber and a team from Braun-Dullaeus Pannen Emmerling led by partner Friedrich Emmerling. Both patent attorneys are firmly established for Huawei.

Clifford Chance and Bird & Bird now share a large part of the litigation for Huawei in Germany. In the EP 112 case, they worked side-by-side against AVM. The Bird & Bird team had previously also successfully enforced the patent against Amazon.

Klaka and Gulde for AVM

Throughout the entire series of lawsuits, AVM relied on a mixed team of Klaka lawyers led by Wolfgang Götz and a patent attorney team from Gulde led by Nicolas Haße.

Klaka has a long-standing client relationship with AVM. The firm represented the company in a dispute against an ISDN patent exploitation company, for example. Berlin-based law firm Gulde is also active in other lawsuits for AVM.

Munich-based Bardehle Pagenberg partner Johannes Heselberger advised AVM in the extrajudicial negotiations.

Nicolas Haße

For Huawei
Clifford Chance (Düsseldorf/Munich): Tobias Hessel (partner, lead), counsel: Thomas Misgaiski; associates: Lea Prehn, Marie Gessat
Bird & Bird (Düsseldorf): Christian Harmsen (partner)
Mitscherlich & Partner (Munich): Martin Körber, Alexander Bach (both patent attorneys)

Braun-Dullaeus Pannen Emmerling (Düsseldorf, Munich): Friedrich Emmerling, Karl-Ulrich Braun-Dullaeus, Michael Behmke, Jörg Kohlschmidt (all partners); associates: Stefan Demmel; Lan Bi (all patent attorneys)
In-house (Munich, Brussels): Xiaowu Zhang (head IPR Europe), Thomas Dreiser (chief EU IP litigation counsel), Liang Gao (director IPR dispute resolution Europe)

For AVM
Klaka (Munich): Wolfgang Götz; Constantin Kurtz (both partners); of counsel: Wolfgang Straub
Bardehle Pagenberg (Munich): Johannes Heselberger (partner); associate: Ronja Schregle
Gulde & Partner: Nicolas Haße (lead), Niklas Mellmann (both partners); Tobias Nickel (all patent attorneys)