Since 2021, Nokia and Oppo have been suing each other in patent courts around the world. Now, the two companies have entered into a global cross-licensing agreement, ending all patent litigation that the two companies had recently brought against each other in Germany, France, the Netherlands, India, China, the United Kingdom, and five other countries.
“OPPO will make royalty payments and compensation payments to cover the unpaid period,” Nokia said in a press release. This arrangement was not mentioned in his Oppo press release. Nokia and Oppo did not disclose further financial details.
However, it is clear from both companies’ press releases that the deal is about cross-licensing related to all mobile communications patents, including 5G patents. JUVE Patent has no information as to whether this agreement includes any disputes with Vivo.
Nokia and Oppo reach agreement
This dispute attracted particular attention not only because it resulted in approximately 100 lawsuits worldwide, making it one of the largest, if not the largest, mobile communications disputes in the past three years. . Oppo will also withdraw from the German market in the summer of 2022 after the Munich District Court ordered a sales freeze.
The deal reopens the German market for the Chinese company, but Oppo devices are still not available on the company’s website in Germany.
In the summer of 2021, Nokia filed lawsuits in France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The case centers on a combination of cellular standard-essential patents (SEPs) and implementation patents covering connectivity, user interface and security technologies, and is part of the first major 5G fight on a global scale. It has become.
Oppo then counterattacked and launched a cancellation request against Nokia’s patent. At the same time, Oppo also filed a lawsuit over its patents.
Key forums in China and the UK
Most recently, China’s Chongqing First Intermediate People’s Court ordered Oppo to pay Nokia the FRAND rate. However, the price per unit was significantly lower than Nokia’s request. Therefore, the Finnish company did not accept the decision and appealed.
Nokia has also previously revealed that it relies on the UK High Court to set FRAND interest rates. In July 2023, the UK High Court ruled that Oppo could not rely on a promise to accept a global FRAND license set by China’s Chongqing court. This forced Oppo to choose between complying with the UK-determined global FRAND rate or withholding the device from sale in the UK.
Later that year, Oppo informed the court that it did not accept the UK’s jurisdiction to set global FRAND rates and opted for an injunction. The UK High Court will no longer have the opportunity to rule on FRAND rates in this dispute.
internal pressure increases
In January 2024, Oppo gained a slight advantage in Germany after the German Federal Patent Court upheld a key patent held by Oppo. The Munich District Court recently suspended infringement proceedings, but they were due to resume. Meanwhile, in India, Nokia reportedly recently secured a positive judgment in its favor.
It is unclear whether these recent events prompted the agreement. The companies did not comment on the background to the agreement.
Nokia has signed five licensing deals in the past 13 months, with Huawei in December 2022, Samsung and Apple in 2023, and Honor and Oppo in January 2024. Oppo signed licensing agreements with Sisvel, Sharp and NTT Docomo in 2021. In 2023, he was followed by a cross-licensing agreement with Via Licensing. Prior to this, Oppo also signed a licensing agreement with Philips.
However, the Chinese mobile phone maker is still facing major lawsuits from Panasonic in the UK, Germany, China and UPC. People familiar with the matter said there was growing internal pressure within the company to quickly conclude an acceptable license agreement. The uncertain economic situation is said to be one of the reasons.
For example, last year, Huawei signed licensing agreements with Ericsson, Xiaomi, and Sharp.
Many companies are involved in both parties
Nokia has started litigation in Europe, primarily with Bird & Bird teams in Germany and the UK. In Germany, lawyers from Arnold & Ruess and patent attorneys from Cohausz & Florack, df-mp and Samson & Partner also participated. In France, Nokia relied on the team of Allen & Overy.
International firm Hogan Lovells represented Oppo in the UK, France, Germany and Spain, as well as working with other companies in China, India, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands. For example, Dutch boutique Brinkhof is leading the case at the Hague District Court. In Germany, Hogan Lovells was primarily responsible for defending his Oppo against his Nokia lawsuit. Meanwhile, Bardehle Pagenberg was responsible for the infringement case against Nokia. At Oppo, she was also attended by patent attorneys from Maikowski & Ninnemann.
