Huawei v MediaTek Germany (CFI, ORD_35006/2025, 21 August 2025)

Dhenne Avocats · 10 October 2026

Our analysis

Summary

By a procedural order of 21 August 2025 (UPC_CFI_248/2025, ORD_35006/2025), the presiding judge and rapporteur of the Munich Local Division (Judge U. Voß) largely granted the confidentiality application lodged by Huawei on 15 August 2025 in its infringement action against MediaTek concerning EP 3 905 840, in response to MediaTek Germany’s application for production of licence agreements in support of its competition law compulsory licence defence. The order sets two tiers of confidentiality but refuses protection for the names of licensees, which are already public.

Question

Which information about licence agreements and negotiations can be protected under Rule 262A, and within what limits can access be restricted?

Decision

Relying on Art. 58 UPCA and Rule 262A, the judge applied the definition of a trade secret in Art. 39(2) TRIPS (paragraph 14) and recalled that the circle of access must be no wider than necessary while including at least one natural person for each party (paragraphs 15 to 17). The names of licensees, being public, were excluded from protection (paragraph 20), only Annex K-NT 22, actually filed, was protected (paragraph 21), licence agreements not yet produced were not the subject of an advance ruling (paragraph 22). Access to confidential information was restricted, on MediaTek Germany’s side, to its representatives and 17 named individuals, and to strictly confidential information to its representatives and two individuals. Any culpable breach may attract a penalty of up to EUR 100,000 per breach.

Key points for practice

• Protection of licensing information requires that it actually be secret: names of licensees already in the public domain remain accessible.

Provisions applied

Agreement on a Unified Patent Court

Art. 58

Rules of Procedure

Rules 190, 262.1, 262.2 and 262A

Other provisions

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Art. 39(2)

Case law cited

STRABAG, Court of Appeal, 1 August 2025 (UPC_CoA_70/2025), Daedalus Prime v Xiaomi Netherlands, Court of Appeal, 12 February 2025 (UPC_CoA_621/2024), Network System v Qualcomm Incorporated, Court of Appeal, 3 July 2025 (UPC_CoA_221/2025)

Related decisions

• MediaTek Germany v Huawei, 1 August 2025, earlier order on MediaTek Germany’s confidentiality application.

Prepared by Dhenne Avocats from the official decision, consulted on 10 October 2026. The database is updated every week, on Friday. Only the official text is authoritative.