OPPO's response: resolutely opposed to Nokia's high patent fees

Core tip: "OPPO firmly opposes unreasonably high fees for patents, and resolutely opposes malicious acts of coercing licensees to negotiate and accept unreasonably high license fees through litigation." The Beiqing Daily reporter found that Nokia had already sold its mobile phone business, and the current patent revenue It has become one of its three major sources of income.
A few days ago, the German District Court said that because OPPO infringed Nokia's 4G/5G patents, it granted Nokia a cease and desist order against OPPO, which means that OPPO and OnePlus devices may be banned in Germany. In this regard, on July 13, OPPO responded to a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily, saying: "OPPO firmly opposes unreasonably high fees for patents, and firmly opposes the malicious act of coercing licensees to negotiate and accept unreasonably high license fees through litigation." Beiqing Daily The reporter found that Nokia has already sold its mobile phone business, and now patent income has become one of its three major sources of income.

The dispute lasted for more than a year, and Nokia sued OPPO in many places

The patent dispute between the two parties has been going on for more than a year. In June 2021, Nokia successively launched dozens of global patent lawsuits against OPPO and other companies, and applied for an injunction in each lawsuit.

Recently, Nokia has sued OPPO in three German regional courts for nine standard essential patents (SEPs) and five implementation patents. Nokia has a large number of patents in these fields.

In this regard, OPPO responded to a reporter from Beiqing Daily and said: "As the holder of many 5G patents, OPPO attaches great importance to the role of intellectual property rights in innovation. Fair and reasonable access to basic patents is the key to promoting innovation. OPPO respects intellectual property rights and advocates reasonable Charges, advocating the settlement of intellectual property disputes between licensors and licensees through friendly negotiation, and mutual respect for the value of patents. On the other hand, OPPO firmly opposes unreasonably high fees for patents, and firmly opposes coercing licensees to negotiate and negotiate with litigation. Accept the malicious behavior of unreasonably high license fees, and advocate the establishment of a long-term and healthy intellectual property ecosystem."

OPPO said it is actively communicating with Nokia to push for a solution and to appeal the ban. Meanwhile, users can continue to use their OPPO products, get software updates and services.

Patent revenue has become an important source of income for Nokia

In fact, patent revenue has become an important part of Nokia's revenue source. In 2021, the financial report shows that Nokia's sales will be 22.202 billion euros and its net profit will be 1.623 billion euros. Among its sources of income, telecom equipment supply accounted for 81.77%, business operations accounted for 6.41%, and patent licensing accounted for 5.72%.

According to the "Global 5G Patent Activity Report (2022)" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Nokia's global patent family ranks sixth, accounting for 7.6%; OPPO ranks ninth, accounting for 4.5%.

Since the 2G era, Nokia has owned a large number of related patents. In the 3G, 4G, and 5G eras, Nokia is still the top ten in the global telecommunications field in terms of patent holdings. "Mobile phones are all in the same line, and 4G mobile phones are also using 2G technology." Wang Yanhui, secretary-general of the China Mobile Phone Alliance, said in an interview that it is difficult for global mobile phone manufacturers to completely bypass Nokia's patent "wall". As long as the patent protection period is over, those patents that seem to have been eliminated by the times are still a hurdle.

To this end, Nokia is also constantly fighting "patent wars", including Apple, BlackBerry, HTC, and even Daimler, Toyota and other brands, have been sued. Most cases end with a settlement between the two parties and the payment of royalties by the other party.

Nokia's mobile phone business has long been sold to HMD

Some analysts believe that many manufacturers are currently pursuing "cross-licensing", that is, using each other's patents to reduce costs, but Nokia has now sold its mobile phone business, so it is in a more favorable position in patent negotiations.

A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that Nokia's mobile phone business has been acquired by HMD, and Nokia also collects patent fees from HMD. Last year, HMD sold 70 million phones and claims to have sold more than 240 million so far. Just on July 12, HMD also released three new Nokia phones, basically the candy bar "elderly phone".