Nokia vs Oppo lawsuit might be coming to an end
The lawsuit drama between Nokia and Oppo regarding the use of Nokia’s patents by Oppo without paying the fair fee could be coming to an end. Actually, the whole drama is about setting the right price for Nokia’s patents. Apparently, Oppo thinks they are too high and they are not willing to pay the asked price. Nokia then turned to various courts, which basically ruled that Oppo needs to pay the licensing fees to Nokia, but the price is still not being discussed.
Oppo then sued Nokia in China, hoping the decision of Chinese courts might bring a needed closure to the story, which has been ongoing for two years now. The Chinese Chongqing court has made a first-instance decision in the lawsuit brought by Oppo. The decision is essentially trying to determine the FRAND global price in standard patent disputes. Oppo is quite happy, and this is their statement:
“OPPO welcomes the recent judgment by the Chongqing First Intermediate People’s Court in the dispute over FRAND royalties for Nokia’s standard essential patents (Case No.: (2021) Yu Min Chu 1232). OPPO is willing to comply with and execute the court’s decision regarding the global FRAND licensing fees for Nokia’s patents, hoping to actively resolve the patent licensing fee dispute with Nokia. OPPO is hoping Nokia can also comply with and execute the Chongqing court’s decision.”
Now, even though some kind of decision has been reached in China, it does not mean an immediate agreement between Oppo and Nokia. However, it will be interesting to see if the FRAND price set by the Chinese court will affect other courts outside of China.
Nokia surely needs an ending here since the royalty payment will help the current financial state, which is not that great, especially now that the stock price is low.
This is how Nokia commented on the ruling of the Chinese court: “We hope that Oppo will now come to the negotiating table and accept its obligation to pay fair compensation for the use of Nokia’s innovations. All along, our goal has been to resolve the dispute fairly. While we cannot yet comment on the details of the Chongqing judgment at this stage, we note that its impact is limited to China’s jurisdiction and thus represents only one view. Courts outside of China have confirmed that Oppo is violating its commitments as a user of Nokia technology in open standards. Courts outside of China have also confirmed that Nokia has made fair offers to Oppo, while Oppo has not made fair offers and is delaying.”
