Beijing Court Upholds Invalidation of InterDigital AV1 Patent Claims

This ruling erodes the leverage of patent pools over 'royalty-free' standards like AV1 in the critical Chinese market. By upholding the CNIPA’s decision, the court reduces the potential royalty burden for Chinese device manufacturers and streaming platforms that have faced mounting pressure from Sisvel and InterDigital. It signals that despite the complexity of video codecs, Chinese administrative invalidations remain difficult to overturn, directly contrasting with Nokia's rare reversal in 2025. Stakeholders should monitor if InterDigital pursues a second appeal to China’s Supreme People’s Court, as ETRI recently did with two other codec patents that were ultimately held invalid in April 2026.

The pressure on the AV1 ecosystem has reached an all-time high as patent holders outside the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) escalate litigation. Per IP Fray in March 2026, Dolby filed the first significant AV1-specific patent infringement lawsuits against Snap Inc. in the U.S. and Brazil, arguing that the codec reuses technical concepts from HEVC that are not royalty-free. This aligns with statements from Access Advance CEO Peter Moller, who noted that labeling a codec 'royalty-free' does not eliminate underlying third-party patent obligations. Despite these legal challenges, Sisvel reported in December 2025 that its AV1 pool had successfully licensed approximately 50% of finished AV1 products currently on the market.

Simultaneously, China has solidified its role in global standard-essential patent (SEP) governance through aggressive judicial activity. According to reporting from China IP Law Update in September 2023 and updated through 2025, the Supreme People’s Court has repeatedly affirmed its jurisdiction to set global FRAND licensing rates, a move that recently affected InterDigital directly during a dispute with OPPO. Furthermore, in April 2025, the court successfully mediated a long-running dispute between TCL and Advanced Codec Technologies (ACT), setting a benchmark rate of $0.008 per unit—a significant reduction from the $0.20 to $0.40 typically sought by non-practicing entities. This environment makes China a pivot point for global codec licensing costs.

Unified Patents remains the primary antagonist for codec patent pools in this region. Per its own reporting in April 2026, the group recently secured a dual victory when China’s Supreme People’s Court upheld the invalidation of two ETRI patents formerly used in Access Advance and Sisvel pools. While InterDigital continues to assert its portfolio in various jurisdictions, including ongoing investigations at the ITC against TCL and Hisense as of April 2026, the loss of these Chinese patent claims limits its ability to collect royalties in one of the world's largest consumer electronics sectors.