U.S., Brazil litigation news; China's new chip design rules come with patent-like features

1) Premium: U.S. district court patent infringement cases peaked in 2025: 10-year high followed by pullback in 2026, LexisNexis report reveals

The report, published yesterday, also confirmed that accused infringers are switching from inter partes review petitions (which fell 8%) to post-grant review petitions (which increased to 88%, their highest level since 2021) to challenge patent validity.

2) Free: Brazilian court-appointed expert finds Disney’s HEVC encoders infringe IBEX patent but rules it non-essential, sidesteps FRAND question

A Rio de Janeiro court expert concluded Disney’s encoders infringe an IBEX video patent tied to Access Advance’s VDP campaign, but found the patent covers encoding rather than decoding, so it falls outside HEVC’s essential patent scope and, with it, any FRAND fight.

3) Premium: China’s revised chip layout rules bring a patent-style revocation route, upfront identification of original features and punitive damages

China has created a patent-style CNIPA revocation route for chip layout-design disputes and introduced punitive damages of up to five times. The revised rules also require applicants to identify claimed original features and allow China to take countermeasures against discriminatory foreign restrictions on layout-design protection.