Tesla has won a landmark ruling at the UK’s highest court, reviving a lawsuit over 5G patent licensing that was previously dismissed three years ago.
Elon Musk’s electric vehicle giant had sued Avanci, a Texas-based patent licensing company, and US technology firm InterDigital at the English High Court in 2023.
The carmaker was seeking a formal patent license for using 5G technology in its vehicles across the UK, which represents Tesla’s fourth largest market globally.
Tesla had argued it was being unfairly penalised by Avanci and asked the courts to determine a fair price for the licensing agreement in question.
In a 2024 hearing at the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, Tesla argued that Avanci was required to offer a license on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms.
Avanci had alleged that Tesla’s claim was a “jurisdictional hook and an abuse of process,” a characterisation the carmaker strongly contested throughout proceedings.
The original court rejected Tesla’s argument, concluding there were no serious issues to be tried against either Avanci or InterDigital, and directed the dispute to Delaware’s Court of Chancery instead.
Tesla appealed in December 2024, and a subsequent split decision found that Lord Justice Arnold believed the UK courts should have allowed the claim to proceed to a full trial.
On Monday, the Supreme Court overturned the earlier ruling, with Lord Justice Hamblen stating that previous judges had “misidentified” the claim that Delaware’s court was better suited to hear the dispute.
Hamblen ruled that the court “considers the claims do so relate” to UK patent rights, clearing the way for the case to be heard in full by the English courts.
“The court holds that Tesla has a real prospect of securing the declarations they seek, against both InterDigital and Avanci,” Lord Justice Hamblen told the court on Monday.
Hamblen further noted that the carmaker “has a legitimate purpose” in bringing the case and that it “encourages wider investment, innovation, and development” in the electric vehicle market by deploying 5G technology in its UK vehicles.
John Brunner, partner at Carpmaels and Ransford and head of the Patent Tech Group, said the judgment meant English courts “have made themselves the forum of choice for standard-essential patent licensing disputes.”
The ruling carries significant implications for how patent licensing disputes involving connected and electric vehicles are handled within the UK legal system going forward.
Tesla, Avanci, and InterDigital did not respond to requests for comment on the Supreme Court’s decision.