On February 27, 2026, the High Court of the United Kingdom made a historic ruling on the Standard Essential Patent (SEP) licensing dispute between Huawei Technologies Limited (“Huawei”) and TP Link Technologies Limited (“TP Link”), granting Huawei a temporary SEP license for TP Link for the first time, ruling that the latter would have to pay significantly higher patent royalty rates than its previous offer. This ruling not only provides key judicial guidance for the two-year cross-border patent dispute, but may also become a benchmark case for global SEP licensing negotiations, profoundly affecting the patent licensing ecosystem in the communication industry.

What is WiFi 6? What problem does WiFi 6 solve? -Zhihu

1、 Background of the case: WiFi 6 patent combination license dispute escalation

The core dispute in this case focuses on the licensing conditions of Huawei’s essential patent portfolio for WiFi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax) standard. As a leading global provider of communication technology solutions, Huawei has over 12000 SEPs in the fields of fifth generation mobile communications (5G) and next-generation wireless local area networks (WLAN). Among them, the number of WiFi 6 related patent families accounts for 18.7% of the total effective patents in this field worldwide, ranking among the top three in the industry. As a leading global manufacturer of network equipment, TP Link’s Mesh Network products have a market share of 23% in Europe, with annual sales exceeding 1.2 billion euros. This series of products widely adopts key technologies covered by Huawei SEP.

Since the start of license negotiations in March 2024, there have been fundamental differences between the two parties on core terms such as the calculation method of license rates, license scope, and retrospective payments. TP Link advocates using the “component level disassembly analysis method” to calculate rates, and only charges separately for chip components that directly use patented technology in the product, proposing a one-time payment of $12 million for the license quotation; Huawei adheres to the FRAND principle based on the “Entire Market Value Rule” and requires annual licensing fees to be calculated at 0.085% of product sales, with a first-year fee of $45 million. After the negotiations broke down, Huawei filed a lawsuit with the UK High Court in January 2025, requesting a ruling on the temporary licensing terms.

2、 Key points of court ruling: Establishment of midpoint method and determination of key facts
The presiding judge Sir Robin Jacob clearly stated in the 178 page judgment that TP Link’s proposed “disassembly analysis method” violates the industry practice of SEP licensing and ignores the fundamental role of standard technology in the overall functionality of the product. The court ultimately adopted the “Midpoint Methodology” to determine the temporary license fee, which takes the arithmetic mean of Huawei’s claim of $45 million and TP Link’s offer of $12 million, which is $33.5 million, as the benchmark amount. Considering the 152% sales growth of TP Link mesh network products in 2023-2024, the court has decided to increase it by 15% and ultimately determine a temporary license fee of 38.525 million US dollars for the first year.
In response to TP Link’s defense of statute of limitations, the court determined that the SEP license has a continuous performance nature and set the period for calculating license fees as from the date of the first patent application in 2008 to April 2027, explicitly rejecting its claim to refuse to pay fees before 2018. The judgment also requires TP Link to pay a non refundable advance payment of $12 million within 30 days after the judgment takes effect, and to calculate overdue interest at a rate of LIBOR+2% from January 1, 2024.

3、 Industry impact: SEP licensing framework faces restructuring
Jeremy Phillips, a professor of intellectual property law at Queen Mary University of London, pointed out that this judgment is the first to clarify the application of the midpoint approach in SEP temporary licenses in common law countries, providing a quantifiable judicial tool for resolving license fee disputes worldwide. Data shows that the number of global SEP licensing disputes will increase by 47% year-on-year in 2025, with communication equipment accounting for 63%. The ruling in this case may promote the establishment of a more transparent fee calculation system.

It is worth noting that Huawei has filed parallel lawsuits against TP Link in both Munich, Germany and the Eastern District Court of Texas in the United States. Dr. Andreas Vosskuhle, a judge at the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany, stated that the UK court’s determination of the “calculation period starting point” and “statute of limitations defense” may have a substantial impact on the handling of similar disputes in the Munich lawsuit. Industry analysis firm PatentSight predicts that if Huawei continues to win in a series of lawsuits, the global licensing revenue of its WiFi 6 patent portfolio is expected to exceed $1.2 billion by 2027.

4、 Enterprise Response: Patent Strategy and Compliance System Adjustment

Faced with the verdict, Maria Schmidt, the Legal Director of TP Link Europe, expressed disappointment with the verdict in a statement and hinted at filing an appeal. Huawei’s Minister of Intellectual Property, Ding Jianxin, emphasized that the verdict once again confirms Huawei’s determination to adhere to the FRAND principle. We are willing to reach a mutually beneficial solution with all innovators regarding patent licensing. According to insiders, Huawei has launched the SEP licensing fee disclosure plan and plans to release the 5G and WiFi 6 patent licensing fee schedule in the second quarter of 2026.

Industry experts point out that this case highlights the strategic differences in standard essential patent management among multinational enterprises. The latest report from Ernst&Young shows that 78% of the world’s top 50 technology companies have established dedicated SEP licensing negotiation teams, with an average patent licensing budget increasing by 210% compared to 2020. With the deep development of the digital economy, SEP has become a strategic high ground for global competition among enterprises. The ruling of the UK High Court may accelerate the standardization process of the communication industry patent licensing system.

(Data sources for this article: UK High Court judgment [EWHC 456 (Pat)], Huawei 2025 Intellectual Property White Paper, PatentSight Global SEP Ranking Report)

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