On February 3, 2026, the Rio de Janeiro Court in Brazil issued a new ruling regarding the standard-essential patent dispute between JVCKENWOOD Corporation (hereinafter “JVC”) and Hisense Group. Judge Victor Agustin Jaccoud Diz Torres explicitly stated: Despite Hisense's membership in the Access Advance patent pool and its global settlement with JVC, it should still face independent sanctions due to improper litigation conduct during the proceedings.

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.

In the latest ruling, the court imposed mandatory requirements for post-settlement matters:

1. Specifying the penalty amount and scope: The penalty shall be 5% of the settlement agreement amount. Notably, as the parties entered into a multi-year agreement, the court explicitly states this penalty applies only to the first year's amount under the agreement;

2. Setting a deadline for penalty payment: Hisense must pay the penalty within 15 days; otherwise, the amount will be listed on the national tax arrears registry and subject to compulsory enforcement procedures. This penalty shall be directly collected and held by the court. As JVC has waived its relevant rights under the settlement agreement, it shall not participate in the distribution of this payment;

3. Submission of settlement terms: The parties shall submit complete settlement terms for approval and make payment arrangements for outstanding expert appraisal fees;

4. Clarification of Penalty Nature: Such fines arising from improper litigation conduct are independent in nature, intended to penalize actions “undermining judicial dignity,” and shall not be automatically revoked due to private settlements between parties.

Case Background

On September 4, 2025, JVC filed patent infringement claims against Hisense and other companies at the Munich Regional Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC);

On December 19, 2025, a court in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil issued two preliminary injunctions, finding that Hisense Group's sale of products utilizing the HEVC (H.265) video coding standard in the Brazilian market potentially infringed relevant standard essential patents (SEPs). The plaintiffs included JVCKENWOOD and NEC, licensors of the HEVC Advance patent pool;

On December 22, 2025, HEVC Advance announced that Hisense Group had joined the HEVC Advance patent pool as a licensee, thereby resolving the related legal disputes involving multiple patent pool licensors.

Attached Ruling (Machine Translation Version)