Per Eastern District of Texas Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap, “applicable French law—consistent with American principles regarding personal property—does not, in this case, allow imputation of a prior patent owner’s conduct to a subsequent owner when determining if the subsequent owner has breached the FRAND commitment regarding standard essential patents (SEPs)”. “This case” is the litigation brought by G+ Communications LLC against Samsung, in which ZTE, the source of the patents-in-suit retains a 20% stake. At the impending trial, Samsung sought to introduce evidence of alleged “FRAND misconduct” by ZTE in support of a breach of FRAND counterclaim. Judge Gilstrap has said that such evidence cannot be introduced to the jury—but it can be to combat a charge of willful infringement. G+ promptly withdrew its willfulness claims.