As reported earlier the case had been brought by a member of the joint HEVC licensing program administered by Access Advance (AA).
In addition to the AA patent pool, there is a pool of HEVC patents managed by MPEG LA. These two patent pools have substantial overlapping content. The defendant had previously entered into a license agreement with MPEG LA.
It has been found that the Plaintiff has not sufficiently complied with its FRAND obligations arising from the prohibition of abuse and discrimination under antitrust law according to Art. 102 TFEU but is abusively exploiting its dominant position in the market.
According to the court, a licensor under both programs is obliged unilaterally to refund royalties paid twice by a double licensee. Not complying with this obligation rendered the program of AA un-FRAND.
Here you find an English machine translation of the verdict as published.
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