ABA: When Courts Collide: Interim SEP Licenses from the UK to the EU to the WTO

O’Melveny partner Shawnna Yashar recently joined the ABA webinar titled, ‘When Courts Collide: Interim SEP Licenses from the UK to the EU to the WTO’ as a guest speaker. The panelists examined the UK courts’ recent use of interim licenses in SEP disputes, tracing their development through cases such as Panasonic v. Xiaomi, Ericsson v. Lenovo, and Alcatel/Nokia v. Amazon, and exploring whether they are legitimate procedural tools or functional substitutes for anti-suit injunctions. The webinar also delved into the UPC’s strong pushback, including anti-interim-license injunctions aimed at preserving UPC jurisdiction, as well as the resulting international comity concerns and recent WTO developments involving the EU and China over ASIs, which place interim licenses within the broader geopolitical and legal tensions shaping global SEP enforcement.

For nearly 20 years, Shawnna Yashar has advised innovative technology and software companies on high-stakes IP and complex commercial litigation in district and federal courts, as well as before the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board and the US International Trade Commission. She has extensive experience with standard-essential patents and also counsels on international trade secrets, IP portfolio management, enterprise IT compliance, and global privacy issues. Before joining O’Melveny, she served as Lenovo’s Director of Global IP Litigation and IP Enforcement, where she managed global IP litigation and oversaw enforcement of the company’s IP portfolio across hundreds of matters worldwide.