Samsung’s antitrust claim against ZTE dismissed in Frankfurt

The global SEP dispute with ZTE has not gone well for Samsung so far. The Korean mobile giant has not been able to prevail with an application for an interim licence in the UK. Samsung also had to withdraw a complaint to the ETSI against ZTE’s behaviour. Furthermore, the Frankfurt Regional Court has now dismissed an antitrust action against ZTE (case ID: 2-06 O 426/24). The court issued the judgment yesterday.

Said judgment is not yet public and this will most likely remain the case. Although the court confirmed at JUVE Patent’s request that it had dismissed Samsung’s application, it will probably not publish the judgment due to the many details that need to be kept confidential.

Samsung had filed a contract formation claim regarding FRAND with the German court at the end of 2024. It requested that ZTE be convicted of market dominance as ZTE refused to grant Samsung a FRAND licence. However, the Korean company did not prevail. Samsung can still appeal against the judgment.

According to JUVE Patent information this is the first time a German Court decided on such a isolated competition law-based claim. However, Samsung had already filed a similar application in a patent infringment case with Datang at the Munich Regional Court in 2022. Samsung invoked a FRAND licence in the course of the proceedings and filed a competition law counterclaim. In 2024 the Regional Court Munich rejected the counterclaim.

In the meantime, the actual patent dispute in Germany and at the UPC continues. On 17 March, the UPC local division Mannheim will hear the first lawsuit between the two companies. This involves an infringement claim from Samsung (case ID: UPC_CFI_188/2025) and ZTE (case ID: UPC_CFI_850/2024). Two further oral hearings are scheduled for the end of March and April at the Munich Regional Court.

The court had already heard a first infringement claim by ZTE against Samsung in mid-February. A judgment is expected on 15 April.

Back in 2024

The battle over 4G and 5G standards between the two Asian headset makers started back in 2024. After ZTE and Samsung did not extend an existing licence agreement, Samsung filed suit at the UK High Court as well as the now dismissed contract formation claim with Frankfurt Regional Court shortly before Christmas in 2024. The Korean mobile phone giant asked the UK court to set a FRAND rate for ZTE’s global cellular portfolio (case ID: HP-2024-000044). In addition to various ZTE companies, Samsung is also suing the distributors Livewire Telecom and EFones Com.

ZTE reacted swiftly by filing patent infringement suits against Samsung in China, Germany and at the UPC. The company filed two lawsuits at the UPC local division Mannheim (case ID: UPC_CFI_847/2024 and UPC_CFI_850/2024). In February 2025, Samsung countered with two UPC actions against ZTE (case IDs: UPC_CFI_189/2025 and UPC_CFI_188/2025).

Furthermore, the parties are going head-to-head at Munich Regional Court over patents relating to 4G and 5G standards. ZTE and Samsung each filed two lawsuits, one each at the 7th Chamber and the 21st Chamber.

The two opponents are also facing off in Brazil and the US. In the US, for example, Samsung filed a FRAND and antitrust complaint against ZTE.

ETSI complaint and interime licence

Meanwhile, Samsung had invoked clause 8.2 of the ETSI IPR Policy against ZTE. The Korean company complained to ETSI that ZTE had failed to make available a FRAND licence. Under this clause, the General Assembly of ETSI can ask the responsible Technical Committee to modify the standard in a way which will cause the SEPs in dispute to become non-essential.

Another option is to make the standard in question non-normative, which will cause the IPRs to be no longer standard-essential. However, Samsung withdrew this application in October 2025.

In June 2025, UK High Court granted an interim licence to Samsung. But in October, ZTE was able to appeal the judgement to the UK Court of Appeal (case ID: CA-2025-001926).

Well-oiled teams

The antitrust lawsuit in Frankfurt is an unusual step in German SEP proceedings. It was prepared by the Düsseldorf law firm Glade Michel Wirtz. The law firm does not specialise in patent litigation, but its name partner Markus Wirtz, who has experience in competition law counterclaims regarding FRAND. He represented Samsung in such a claim against Datang last year.

Wirtz is supported by partners Max Schulz, Christian Karbaum, Leon Burkhart and Julian Schmid.

The antitrust lawyers work closely with the advisers in the patent proceedings for Samsung. Regarding the German and UPC cases, regular counsel Rospatt handles the active claims for the Korean client. A&O Shearman handles Samsung’s defence against ZTE’s infringement claims. On partner level, Rospatt lawyers Hetti Hilge, Thomas Musmann and André Sabellek are involved. The Munich-based A&O Shearman team is led by Jan Ebersohl and Denise Benz.

As in almost all German patent proceedings, patent attorney Joël Nägerl of Zimmermann & Partner is also involved in the proceedings against ZTE. A Kirkland & Ellis team acts for Samsung in the UK proceedings. The team around Nicola Dagg and Steven Baldwin also coordinate the pan-European litigation.

Advantage with ZTE

ZTE is acting in the European proceedings with a similar constellation of antitrust and patent lawyers as well. The antitrust law boutique Commeo and patent lawyers from Taliens secured the win in Frankfurt. The Commeo team is led by partner Stephanie Pautke. Also involved were the Commeo lawyers Elisa Degner, Julia Sagasser and Lukas Meyer.

Juliane Buchinski, who coordinates ZTE’s in-house litigation in Europe, is reportedly also involved.

In the patent disputes, ZTE relies on Taliens and Vossius & Partner for the Munich lawsuits. Each firm is handling active and passive cases at the UPC and Munich Regional Court. The Taliens team consists of partner Thomas Lynker as well as Thomas Reithmann and Evelyn Höfer.

The Vossius & Partner team consists of Georg Rauh and Kai Rüting as well as lawyers Zhuomin Wu, Roman Scheibe and Jonathan Santman. Vossius patent attorneys Christian Sandweg and Thomas Schwarze are involved in all German and UPC cases.

In London, ZTE retained IP boutique Powell Gilbert to defend the UK lawsuit. Ari Laakkonen, Pete Damerell and Raj Jagdev lead the team.