First French anti-anti-suit injunction: don't tell me what I can't do!

After negotiations failed to lead to the conclusion of a licence agreement, Lenovo brought action against IPCom in March 2019 in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, seeking the setting of FRAND terms for IPCom’s worldwide portfolio of patents declared essential to 2G, 3G and 4G standards.

In the context of this action, it filed a motion for an anti-suit injunction in September 2019, seeking a broad prohibition on IPCom to act for infringement against Lenovo companies or their distributors anywhere in the world.

That motion was scheduled to be heard on 14 November 2019. After the initiation of the U.S. action, but before the filing of Lenovo’s motion for an anti-suit injunction, IPCom brought action for infringement of a 3G patent before the English courts.

In October 2019, IPCom also initiated summary proceedings in France, seeking a preliminary injunction for infringement of the same 3G patent.

At the end of October, IPCom sought emergency relief from the President of the Paris court, in summary proceedings, in the form of an anti-anti-suit injunction. IPCom sought a prohibition against Lenovo from pursuing the motion for an anti-suit injunction that was planned to be heard on 14 November. The hearing on this application took place on 6 November, and an order was issued on 8 November.