Last week, Judge Holderman issued an Announcement that Fujitsu and Tellabs reached a settlement in this case where a jury had found that Fujitsu breached its RAND obligations and Judge Holderman had ordered Fujitsu to show cause why its patent should not be deemed unenforceable as to Tellabs (see our July 24, 2014 post).  Judge Holderman noted that, “[a]s this litigation has waged forward, millions of dollars in attorney fees and costs have been spent by the parties, the very kind of financial toll that successful RAND royalty licensing negotiations culminating in a RAND royalty licensing agreement would have avoided.”

Judge Holderman had delayed ruling on the pending show cause order so that the parties could pursue settlement, as they have done here.  So this the second high-profile standard essential patent case before Judge Holderman that has led to settlement, the first being the Innovatio litigation where Judge Holderman had determined a RAND royalty at the outset of the case in a unique reverse bifurcation proceeding that led to settlement before any trial on whether the patents were valid and infringed.  So we will remain forever curious about what the ruling might have been on the interesting show cause order.  But our curiosity readily gives way to privately negotiated agreements that have more flexibility than the tools courts have to resolve disputes.