Nokia has announced that it has signed a new patent cross-license agreement with OPPO, covering both parties’ fundamental inventions in 5G and other cellular technologies. This also ends the long dispute between Nokia and OPPO over patent payments.
The terms of the agreement remain confidential between the parties, said the company, so there are no details yet on how much the deal is worth.
Nokia signed a multi-year 5G patent deal with HONOR earlier this month, and this is the fifth major smartphone agreement that Nokia has concluded in the past 12 months.
As of December 31, 2023, OPPO said that it deployed 5G communication standard patents in over 40 countries and regions, with a total of more than 5,900 patent families globally, over 3,300 5G standard patents declared to ETSI, and more than 11,000 standard documents submitted to 3GPP.
According to the 2023 5G report published by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) and a report from IPlytics published in October 2023, OPPO ranks among the top companies globally in terms of 5G standard-essential patent strength.
Jenni Lukander, President of Nokia Technologies, said:
We are delighted to have reached a cross-license agreement with OPPO that reflects the mutual respect for each other’s intellectual property and Nokia’s investments in R&D and contributions to open standards. OPPO is one of the leading companies in the global smartphone market, and we look forward to working together to bring further innovation to their users around the world. The new agreement – along with the other major smartphone agreements we have concluded over the past year – will provide long-term financial stability to our licensing business.
Feng Ying, OPPO’s Chief Intellectual Property Officer, stated:
We are pleased to have reached this global patent cross-license agreement with Nokia, which includes cross-licensing for 5G standard-essential patents. This agreement reflects the mutual recognition and respect for each other’s intellectual property and lays the foundation for future collaboration between OPPO and Nokia. OPPO continues to advocate for reasonable royalty fees and a long-term approach to intellectual property that supports the resolution of disputes through amicable negotiations and mutual respect for the value of all intellectual property.