Nokia announced it has signed a multi-year patent cross-license agreement with OPPO. Under the agreement OPPO will make royalty payments, along with catch-up payments to cover the periods of non-payment. The agreement resolves all pending patent litigation between the parties, in all jurisdictions. The terms of the agreement remain confidential as agreed between the parties.
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."
The agreement is consistent with the assumptions Nokia has disclosed in the commentary with respect to Nokia Technologies long-term outlook in its Financial Report for Q3 issued on October 19, 2023. Nokia will begin recognizing net sales from this agreement, including catch up payments covering non-payment during the dispute period, in Q1 2024. Nokia Technologies is progressing towards the conclusion of the smartphone renewal cycle and is making good progress in its growth areas of automotive, consumer electronics, IoT and multimedia. It remains confident that its annual net sales run-rate will return to EUR 1.4 to 1.5 billion in the mid-term.
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.