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Context: Brazil is now one of the leading standard-essential patent (SEP) and generally patent jurisdictions in the world (see, e.g., this February 6, 2026 ip fray article on sanctions and this February 4, 2026 ip fray article on ZTE’s appellate victory over Samsung).

What’s new: Late last week it was made public that NEC has won a preliminary injunction (PI) against HMD in the Rio de Janeiro State Court over an Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) patent. The PI is merits-based: a court-appointed expert furnished a report according to which devices made by HMD and Brazilian company Multilaser Industrial implement the technology protected by NEC’s patent-in-suit, and held that Via Licensing Alliance’s offer was FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) as well as transparent. The court (3rd Business Court of Rio de Janeiro) took note of NEC’s numerous license agreements with third parties and wanted to preserve a functioning licensing systems under threat by a “free-rider effect” (which would distort competition).

Direct impact: Given that this PI is merits-based (i.e., based on a court-appointed expert’s report) as opposed to merely urgency-based, HMD is now facing a clear and present danger of actual enforcement. The court order says HMD must cease to use the patented technology and stop selling devices in Brazil that implement it. For each day of further infringement, HMD will be fined BR$50,000 (approximately US$4,000).

Wider ramifications: HMD is sued relatively frequently. In Brazil, there is an enforcement dispute with VoiceAge EVS, a company that just prevailed over HMD in the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (January 27, 2026 ip fray article). Other parties that have recently asserted patents against HMD include Fraunhofer (July 21, 2025 ip fray article) and Huawei.

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The patent-in-suit is PI 0306434-4 (“Audio decoding device and method”).

The court-appointed expert was Dr. David Moura.

NEC is represented by the law firms Licks Advogados (Otto Licks, Carlos Aboim, Gabriel Mathias, Youssef Yunes, and Ana Carolina Marques), Salomão Advogados (Luis Felipe Salomão Filho and Alice Studart), and Bellizze & Basílio Advogados (Marcelo Bellizze and Marcus Vinícius Basílio).