Recently, Dolby filed a lawsuit against Nothing Technology and GameGeek at the Munich branch of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), alleging that the defendants infringed on one of its patents related to Enhanced Voice Services (EVS). This marks the first time Dolby has filed an SEP infringement lawsuit regarding EVS, and it is also the first time a dispute involving the Via voice codec patent pool has gone to court.

Nothing Technology is a UK-based device manufacturer responsible for the R&D of hardware and software for smartphones and TWS earbuds, and it embeds EVS encoder algorithms into its product firmware. GameGeek is a Hong Kong-based contract distributor that operates Nothing’s official EU website and imports and directly sells the accused devices into the EU.

The patent in question is EP3152755, titled “Improved Classification Between Time-Domain and Frequency-Domain Coding.” Originally owned by Huawei, it was transferred to Dolby in November 2025. At the time of the transfer, both parties had already joined the Via voice codec patent pool. This patent pool was launched in December 2024 by the Via Licensing Alliance and covers patents related to EVS and IVAS (Immersive Voice and Audio Services). Licensees include Dolby, Huawei, ETRI, JVCKENWOOD, and NTT. In May 2026, Cordial IP K.K. and NovaVoice Limited also joined the pool.

This case marks the first time a dispute involving the Via voice codec patent pool has gone to court, and it is also the first time Dolby has filed an SEP infringement lawsuit regarding EVS. In addition to this case, there are other cases in the EVS field, such as Fraunhofer v. Lenovo and Crystal v. an OPPO subsidiary. In the HMD v. VoiceAge EVS case, the German Federal Court of Justice ruled that HMD was a non-bona fide licensee. HMD has now filed a constitutional complaint with the German Federal Constitutional Court, arguing that the German Federal Court of Justice’s refusal to refer “questions of substance” to the European Court of Justice violated its constitutional right to a trial by a lawful judge.