The UK High Court made a judgement which could potentially see Huawei prevented from selling its mobile phones in the UK.

The decision came in a case brought by Unwired Planet, a patent holding company originating from Openwave Systems which also acquired intellectual property from Ericsson.

According to law firm EIP, which acted for Unwired Planet, the latest judgement “makes clear that unless Huawei agrees to enter into a worldwide licence for Unwired Planet’s patent portfolio, Huawei could be injuncted from selling its mobile telephones in the UK”.

Unwired Planet contends because it holds a “significant” portfolio of patents around the world, and because licenses in this field tend to be global in scope, Huawei’s licence should be a worldwide one.

Huawei had said it would only take a licence in the UK, and only for patents found to be valid and infringed in the country (although it subsequently changed its position to accept licensing a patent portfolio, but again only in the UK).

The Chinese company also argued Unwired Planet was breaching a commitment to fair and reasonable licensing, and was in breach of competition law by seeking a worldwide licence rather than cutting a UK deal.

If accurate, Huawei’s assertion means Unwired Planet would need to bring legal proceedings in every country where it holds patents in order to obtain compensation from the vendor in each of these markets, EIP said.

The new judgement confirms there had been no breach of competition law, thus Unwired Planet is entitled to licence on a global basis.

EIP said because the High Court only holds UK jurisdiction, it cannot force Huawei to a worldwide licence, but if the vendor does not enter into a global deal on terms deemed fair and reasonable the judge will issue an injunction preventing further infringements of Unwired Planet’s UK patents.

The terms of the injunction will be determined at another hearing, but it “could mean that as a result Huawei will not be able to market mobile phones in the UK going forward”.

The patents in question are standard essential patents for mobile telephony, which Unwired Planet committed to licence on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.