California Judge Frees Huawei and Wireless Carriers from Mobile Device Suit After Holding that NPE Plaintiff Lacked Standing

A California federal judge has dismissed infringement suits against Huawei (3:13-cv-02323) and wireless carriers AT&T (3:13-cv-02318), SOFTBANK (Sprint) (3:13-cv-02319), Verizon (Cellco) (3:13-cv-02325), and T-Mobile (3:13-cv-02324) after ruling that plaintiff SPH America, LLC lacked standing to assert the patents-in-suit. In an order issued on April 10 in the case against Huawei, District Judge Cathy Bencivengo ruled that SPH America did not have Article III standing because it had not acquired “substantial rights” in the asserted patents through a purported license agreement with the patents’ owner, the South Korea-based Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).