UK Supreme Court revives Tesla FRAND patent case against InterDigital and Avanci

Tesla won backing from the UK Supreme Court in its patent dispute with InterDigital and Avanci, reviving a case tied to the automaker’s plans for 5G-enabled cars in the UK. The court overturned earlier rulings on July 27 and held that patent owners cannot sidestep FRAND obligations by placing patents in a licensing pool or platform. The decision restores Tesla’s effort to have the English courts determine whether Avanci’s platform terms are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory before Tesla finalizes licensing for connected vehicle technology. The case, first filed in London’s High Court in 2023, is set to return there for further proceedings. Avanci’s platform licence reportedly cost $32 per vehicle when Tesla sued, a rate Tesla said was not FRAND. The High Court had struck out Tesla’s FRAND claim in 2024 while allowing separate validity challenges to three InterDigital patents, and a majority of the Court of Appeal later upheld that decision before the Supreme Court reversed it. Groups including the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the Motion Picture Association intervened in support of Tesla’s appeal. Tesla shares briefly rose 0.98% to $316.10 in premarket trading, then traded near $309.10 later in the day, down about 1.2%, after moving between $304.28 and $317. Separately, Tesla’s crypto holdings remained unchanged at 11,509 Bitcoin in the second quarter, even as it recorded a $112 million after-tax digital-asset loss, while Dogecoin remains limited to eligible Tesla Shop merchandise rather than vehicle purchases.