Huawei announced that the company entered into a patent cross-licensing agreement with Oppo, which is known as the biggest domestic rival of the company. The deal covers obtaining the global rights to Huawei’s coveted 5G patents.
(Photo : JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images)
This photo taken on July 12, 2022, shows the logo of the Huawei flagship store in Shenzhen, in China’s southern Guangdong province.
Patent Cross-Licensing Agreement
For the previous years, Huawei has not been aggressive in monetizing its patents compared to its competitors. But this will change now. Huawei and Oppo came into an agreement to license some of their technologies for smartphones. The patent cross-licensing agreement allows Oppo to have global rights to Huawei’s coveted 5G patents.
Huawei Intellectual Property Department Head Alan Fan stated, “The mutual recognition of intellectual property value between companies is a major step towards fostering a positive cycle of innovation and research in high-value standards: investing, receiving returns from investment, and then reinvesting.”
Engadget reported that the firm was planning to monetize the patent portfolio and license its technologies last year, which charges the phone maker $2.50 per device. As per Huawei Founder Ren Zhengfai, the company’s IP team will step up its efforts to turn its vast pool of parents into revenue with reasonable pricing and appropriate return.
This deal comes as Huawei is currently struggling financially from its assets and decrease in revenues and profit due to US pressure that started during Donald Trump’s presidency.
18.3% of Huawei’s 5G patents fell under the Standard Essential Patent (SEP) category, as they were considered critical to the 5G standard. The company also had the most used 5G-related SEPs in the world during that time.
Other Agreements
Aside from this, 20 new patent licensing deals are also expected for Huawei to sign in the future. Asia One reported that this might include extensions with Samsung Electronics and other foreign companies. Through these patent licenses, Huawei states that it will help 350 million 5G smartphones and 15 million connected cars.
In terms of patents granted by Chinese private companies in 2021, National Intellectual Property Administration reported that Huawei ranked first, followed by Tencent Holdings and Oppo.
6,952 patent applications were filed by Huawei last year alone, which is a 27% increase from the previous year. This made the company the biggest PCT filer in the world for five consecutive years.
Huawei in US
Just last month, Huawei faced concerns from the United States government. The Federal Communications Commission released an order that banned the company from importing equipment into the country. Five members of the FCC voted and led to a unanimous decision (4-0).
“These new rules are an important part of our ongoing actions to protect the American people from national security threats involving telecommunications,” stated by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
As per regulators, the equipment may bring potential security risks that could lead to a data breach. Along with Huawei, ZTE Corp., Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Dahua Technology Co., and Hytera Communications Corp were also included in the list of banned companies.
