InterDigital (NASDAQ:IDCC) intensified its global legal offensive against The Walt Disney Company on Friday, securing its fifth court-ordered injunction against the entertainment giant.
The Munich Regional Court ruled that Disney’s streaming services infringe on an InterDigital patent essential to High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), a cornerstone technology for delivering high-quality 4K and HDR video content.
The decision allows InterDigital to seek a ban on the use of the infringing compression technology within Germany, a critical market for Disney’s streaming ecosystem.
This latest victory follows a string of successful litigations for the Wilmington-based research firm, which has now obtained four injunctions in Germany and one in Brazil over the past year.
The legal battle, which began in early 2025, spans a wide range of InterDigital’s video portfolio.
Previous injunctions have targeted Disney’s unauthorized use of patents for High Dynamic Range (HDR), the dynamic overlaying of video streams (such as subtitles), and other advanced AVC and HEVC technologies.
InterDigital’s Chief Legal Officer, Josh Schmidt, has repeatedly argued that Disney’s multi-billion dollar streaming success is built on "foundational research" that the company continues to use without a fair-value license.
Disney, which has previously attempted to counter-sue InterDigital on antitrust grounds in the U.S., maintains that the tech firm is seeking "supra-RAND" (above fair and reasonable) royalties for its standard-essential patents.
The U.S. Department of Justice recently urged caution in such antitrust claims, noting that possessing a patent does not automatically confer illegal market power.
While Disney has the right to appeal the Munich decision, the cumulative weight of injunctions in Europe and South America significantly increases the pressure on the media giant to reach a global settlement.