JUVE Comment

For a small collection of barristers from a predominantly commercial set, Blackstone Chambers is frequently visible at the UK patent courts. This is especially true in cases concerning telecommunications and FRAND, such as in the Lenovo vs Ericsson case and Panasonic vs Xiaomi at the High Court and Court of Appeal. With the rise of disputes over SEP portfolio licences and especially over the relatively new phenomenon of interim licences, the know-how of commercial barristers such as KCs James Segan and Michael Bloch is increasingly sought after. On occasion this also applies to life sciences disputes. Bloch and others recently represented Pfizer, while Segan represented BioNTech in the pledge trial against Moderna.

Recommended individuals

Michael Bloch (“brilliant for commercial disputes in patent law”, competitor), James Segan

Team

5 KCs, 1 junior

Clients

Court of Appeal: Lenovo (James Segan) against Ericsson over interim portfolio licence; Tesla (James Segan) against Avanci and InterDigital over FRAND rate for a pool licence; Amazon (James Segan, Ravi Mehta, Femi Adekoya) against Nokia Alcatel over interim portfolio licence; Panasonic (Andrew Scott) against Xiaomi over interim portfolio licence for SEP/FRAND; Lenovo (James Segan) against InterDigital portfolio licence rate (ended 2024). High Court: Tesla (James Segan) against Avanci and InterDigital over FRAND rate for a pool licence; Lenovo (Michael Bloch, Femi Adekoya) against Ericsson over interim portfolio licence; Xiaomi (James Segan) against Panasonic (Andrew Scott) over SEP portfolio licence; Lenovo (James Segan, Ravi Mehta) against InterDigital over telecommunications and FRAND; Pfizer (Michael Bloch, Will Bordell, Sean Butler) and BioNTech (James Segan) against Moderna in pledge trial over mRNA patents; AstraZeneca (Alan Maclean) against Tesaro over patent licensing for cancer drug.