Sisvel v. Haier - Willingness to license or willingness to negotiate?

The German Federal Court of Justice (FCJ) handed down its first judgment on FRAND since the CJEU’s landmark decision in Huawei v. ZTE (decision from May 16, 2015, docket no. C-170/13). This decision was long awaited with many hoping that the FCJ would align the diverging approaches of the German lower courts in interpreting the CJEU’s decision. Focusing however primarily on Haier’s willingness to license, the decision still left open highly disputed questions relating to the obligations of the SEP owner and the implementer when providing their license (counter-)offers.