The case stems from a long-standing patent dispute between Philips and Belkin concerning wireless charging technology. Philips holds EP 2 867 997 B1, which has been declared part of the “Qi wireless charging standard.” The “Qi” standard is a globally recognized wireless power transfer specification developed by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC). Primarily based on electromagnetic induction principles, it enables mobile devices such as smartphones and wearables to interact with charging bases for cable-free power transfer. Currently, this standard represents the most widely adopted wireless charging technology specification in the global mobile electronics sector.

On February 10, 2026, InterDigital formally announced this series of lawsuits. The company stated that Hisense and TCL, both among the world's top five TV manufacturers, utilize its patented foundational technologies without lawful authorization.

The core dispute centers on NEC's claim that HMD implemented NEC's Brazilian patent PI 0306434-4 (audio decoding device and method) in its mobile devices without authorization. The court's ruling primarily relied on a technical report from a designated expert, which preliminarily determined through technical comparison that HMD's devices infringed NEC's patent.

This case originated from a patent infringement lawsuit filed by JVC and its partner NEC against Hisense in Brazil at the end of 2025. During the litigation, Hisense was accused of employing aggressive procedural tactics, including filing a massive declaratory action involving 144 claims and frequent interlocutory appeals, in an attempt to delay the judicial process.

Under the ruling, TP-Link must pay Huawei $12 million, including interest, as a non-refundable and upwardly adjustable advance payment. This sum serves as the minimum payment threshold for royalties. Even if subsequent rulings establish a lower total FRAND rate, the $12 million paid will not be refunded. Should actual sales data later exceed current estimates, TP-Link must make up the difference. Regarding the portion of the interim payment exceeding $12 million (determined by the court based on the midpoint of the parties' offers), it carries a refundable/adjustable attribute: if the final adjudicated amount falls below the total interim payment, the portion exceeding $12 million paid by TP-Link shall be refunded.

In this ruling, the appeals court found Samsung had demonstrated clear signs of delaying tactics during patent licensing negotiations—exploiting its market position to postpone payment of reasonable licensing fees while continuing to profit from infringing technology. The court explicitly stated in its judgment that law cannot grant any company the right to freely use another's patents without payment, as this directly harms the legitimate interests of patent holders and undermines the technological innovation ecosystem.

On February 2, 2026, U.S. patent holding company AX Wireless LLC simultaneously filed patent infringement lawsuits in federal courts across the Eastern District of Texas, the Central District of California, and the Northern District of Illinois. The lawsuits accuse four prominent networking equipment manufacturers—ASUSTek, D-Link, TP-Link, and Ubiquiti—of infringing five WiFi-related patents held by AX Wireless.

Recently, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) issued its final ruling on the trade secret protection dispute within the patent infringement case between Ericsson and Asus: The court rejected Ericsson's request to apply the “External Eyes Only (EEO)” regime to the confidentiality agreement. Instead, it permitted each party to designate one natural person (employee) to access relevant confidential information. However, this employee is prohibited from participating in or assisting with patent licensing negotiations with the other party to the confidentiality agreement for five years following the order's enforcement. The court also imposed strict confidentiality obligations and set breach penalties in the millions of euros.

This litigation marks not the first time Skyworth has engaged with VIA. Public records indicate Skyworth has previously obtained at least one patent license from VIA.

On January 29, 2026, after deliberating for less than three hours, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found Ding guilty on all fourteen charges brought by prosecutors. Ding was arrested after leaving Google in late 2023. Federal prosecutors alleged that starting in May 2022, Ding secretly downloaded over 14,000 Google documents containing 105 trade secrets related to supercomputing data centers used for training and operating large language models.