OPPO signs 5G cross-licensing agreement with Nokia, ending their patent dispute

Over two years after Nokia Corporation filed a lawsuit against OPPO for alleged 5G patent infringement, both company announced that they have finally reached an agreement. The new cross-licensing agreement resolves all pending litigation between parties, but the terms is agreed to remain confidential.

Under this new agreement, OPPO agreed to make royalty payments to Nokia which covers its non-payment during the dispute period. Additionally, Nokia will start recognizing net sales from this new agreement, alongside the catch-up payments, in Q1 2024. The Finns remains optimistic that its run-rate will return to EUR 1.4 to 1.5 billion in the mid-term as a result of its strong patent portfolio in areas relating to automotive, consumer electronics, IoT, and multimedia.

In 2021, Nokia sued OPPO for allegedly infringing their 5G patents, and its refusal to pay royalties for its technologies after the previous agreement expired. OPPO called the lawsuit “shocking”, and counter-sued Nokia in nine different countries. The litigation resulted to OPPO exiting Germany, alongside other BBK companies like OnePlus, Vivo and Realme.

This isn’t the first time Nokia won a patent litigation. Companies like Apple Inc., Daimler and Lenovo had been taken out to court by Nokia, all of which ended up signing a multi-year patent cross-licensing agreement to cease all pending cases.

Nokia’s patent portfolio is built on more than €140 billion invested in R&D since 2000. It is composed of around 20,000 patent families, including over 5,500 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.

Source: Nokia Corporation