BL00100-101-E exam - Nokia Bell Labs End-to-End 5G Foundation Updated: 2024

Chinese smartphone brand Oppo has urged Finnish electronics giant Nokia to follow the global 5G royalty rates set by a local court and put an end to their patent-fee feud, as Beijing flexes its legal muscles in cross-border disputes.

The Chongqing First Intermediate People's Court supported Oppo's petition to set lower royalty rates for Nokia's standard essential patents (SEPs) for 2G to 5G technologies, according to the ruling made public on Thursday.

SEPs are essential for products to comply with industry standards.

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Oppo said in a statement that it welcomed the court's decision and called on Nokia to comply, "so that both parties can promptly return to constructive negotiations".

In response to the Post's inquiry, Nokia said it would appeal the ruling, which "is limited to the Chinese jurisdiction only and as such represents only one view."

"Courts outside of China have confirmed that Oppo is in breach of its commitments as a user of Nokia's technology in open standards ... We remain confident of our position in the overall dispute and are hoping to resolve the matter soon," it added.

A Nokia logo at the Mobile World Congress. Photo: dpa alt=A Nokia logo at the Mobile World Congress. Photo: dpa>

The two companies have been engaged in multiple patent lawsuits in 12 countries since 2021, as they failed to agree on the price for using Nokia's 5G patent portfolios on Oppo smartphones. Oppo filed a case in the southwest municipality of Chongqing in 2021.

The new ruling is China's latest attempt to exert judicial authority over the royalty rates charged by foreign patent holders.

In a similar dispute between Oppo and Sharp in 2020, a court in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen decided that it had jurisdiction to set global Frand rates - a term describing the obligation for patent holders to license intellectual properties in a "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" manner.

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Sharp, which had been acquired by Taiwan's Foxconn, appealed the case. After China's Supreme Court upheld the ruling, Oppo and Sharp reached a cross-licensing deal to end all of their ongoing litigation globally.

In the latest case, the Chongqing court ruled that Nokia should charge licensing fees of US$1.151 per 5G multi-mode handset in developed markets, including Europe, and US$0.707 per device in other countries, including China.

Nokia charges a maximum licensing rate of 3 euros (US$3.24) per 5G smartphone, according to a notice on its website.

In addition, the Chongqing court decided that the total royalty burden for 5G standards in the mobile phone industry should range from 4.341 per cent to 5.273 per cent, the first ruling of its kind in the sector.

The court also ruled that the licensing rate for 4G smartphones should be US$0.777 per device in developed regions and US$0.477 per unit in markets including China.

Chinese companies are trying to have a bigger say in price setting, as they become more prominent patent holders of cellular network-related technologies than during the 4G era, according to Julia Zhu, head of IP licensing and litigation of Oppo.

"We expect the ruling by the Chongqing court to set a benchmark for the industry, and the prices set by the court would be a strong reference in other litigations," Zhu said.

Oppo, which saw its smartphone shipments fall 6.5 per cent in the third quarter but remained the world's fourth-largest brand, according to research firm IDC, is keen to put an end to the dispute.

Last year, the company lost a patent infringement lawsuit to Nokia in Germany. As a result, some of its handsets are barred from being sold there. The firm has since delisted most products from its German website.

Earlier this year, a court in India ordered Oppo to pay Nokia a licensing fee equivalent to 23 per cent of the Chinese firm's local sales.

On the other hand, a court in Indonesia dismissed patent infringement complaints made by Nokia against Oppo.

Because of the importance of the Chinese market, smartphone makers in the country had long been able to broker rates lower than their foreign competitors. However, these companies have found it increasingly difficult to negotiate preferential fees.

Vivo, a sister company of Oppo, encountered similar lawsuits raised by Nokia and has stopped selling its products in Germany since May. That came after Vivo cancelled plans to bring its products to the Netherlands, where Nokia filed a similar lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Oppo and Xiaomi are fighting lawsuits filed by Japanese electronics giant Panasonic in China and Europe over 4G technologies.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nokia and Honor Sign Patent Cross-License Agreement for 5G and Cellular Technologies

(IN BRIEF) Nokia has entered into a patent cross-license agreement with Honor, a leading player in the Chinese smartphone market. The agreement covers the essential inventions related to 5G and other cellular technologies, and the terms remain confidential. Nokia’s Chief Licensing Officer, Susanna Martikainen, highlighted the strength of Nokia’s patent portfolio and its contributions to cellular standards, noting that this is the fourth major litigation-free smartphone agreement Nokia has signed in the past year. Honor’s Head of Global Intellectual Property, Wenyu Zhou, emphasized the importance of IP rights and reasonable IP value for the mobile industry’s development. Nokia’s patent portfolio consists of over 20,000 patent families, including more than 6,000 declared essential to 5G, which can be licensed on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

(PRESS RELEASE) ESPOO, 5-Jan-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — Nokia announced it has signed a new patent cross-license agreement with Honor covering both parties’ fundamental inventions in 5G and other cellular technologies. The terms of the agreement remain confidential between the parties.

Susanna Martikainen, Chief Licensing Officer Mobile Devices at Nokia said: “We are delighted to have concluded an amicable patent cross-license agreement with Honor, one of the leading players in the Chinese smartphone market. It is the fourth major litigation-free smartphone agreement that Nokia has concluded over the past twelve months and highlights once again the strength of Nokia’s patent portfolio and decades-long contributions to cellular standards and other technologies.”

Wenyu Zhou, Head of Global Intellectual Property at Honor said: “As both 5G SEP holder and implementor, Honor highly respects IP rights and strongly believes that reasonable value of IP is important to the development of mobile industry. The conclusion of the patent cross-license agreement shows Honor’s commitment on innovation to enabling a smart life across all scenarios and all channels, for all people.”

Nokia’s industry-leading patent portfolio is built on more than €140 billion invested in R&D since 2000 and is composed of around 20,000 patent families, including over 6,000 patent families declared essential to 5G. Nokia contributes its inventions to open standards in return for the right to license them on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. Companies can license and use these technologies without the need to make their own substantial investments in the standards, fueling innovation and the development of new products and services for consumers.

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SOURCE: Nokia