Huawei and OPPO Guangdong Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. announced the signing of a global patent cross-licensing agreement, which covers the basic patents of cellular communication standards including 5G standards.
OPPO paid to license Huawei’s advanced 5G tech
According to reports, the cross-licensing agreement reached between Huawei and OPPO has made a package of patent licensing arrangements for both parties’ 5G and other standard essential patent technologies and related products. According to the agreement, OPPO paid to obtain a license for Huawei’s advanced 5G technology. At the same time, Huawei has also obtained the required OPPO patent license for OPPO’s research on wireless standards.
In the past year, nearly 20 global manufacturers in the smartphone, smart car, network, IoT and other industries have obtained Huawei patent licenses (including Samsung, OPPO, NORDIC, etc.). We expect that about 350 million 5G phones and 15 million connected cars will be licensed by Huawei this year.
“Although Huawei has signed some licensing agreements with domestic companies, OPPO is by far the largest and has the most patents,” Huawei revealed.
Fan Zhiyong, Director of Huawei’s Intellectual Property Department, said: “After more than 20 years of continuous innovation, Huawei has formed a number of high-value patent packages around the world, including 5G, Wi-Fi, audio and video. Huawei is very happy to reach a cross-licensing agreement with OPPO The mutual recognition of the value of intellectual property among enterprises can promote the innovation cycle of “investment-return-reinvestment” in high-value standard technology research, enhance the sustainable innovation capability of the industry, and provide consumers with more competitive products and service.”
Patent fees cannot be charged for fees
For a long time, Huawei has been continuously increasing its basic research and development. “The more difficult it is, the more we must hold on to innovation and not let go.” Huawei’s financial report shows that research and development expenses in 2021 will be 142.7 billion yuan, the highest in history, accounting for about 22% of annual revenue. Ranked No. 2 in the world.
It is reported that the R&D investment in the first three quarters of this year has reached 110 billion yuan, exceeding the same period last year.
In April of this year, Huawei Xinsheng Community published the minutes of the “Patent Licensing Business Report” issued by Ren Zhengfei (hereinafter referred to as the “minutes”). The minutes pointed out that it is necessary to formulate intellectual property strategies that keep pace with the times to serve the company’s commercial success; actively explore technology secret licensing models and industrial promotion mechanisms.
The minutes mentioned that it is necessary to establish a reasonable price benchmark to allow the industry to use Huawei’s patented technology in a fair and reasonable manner. While obtaining appropriate R&D returns, it is also conducive to establishing Huawei’s image as an innovator in the international community.
Huawei’s Intellectual Property Department emphasizes that patent fees cannot be charged for the sake of fees; nor should they be set too low. If the fee is too low, the innovation of the whole society will be curbed, and no one is willing to invest in R&D. The principles of fairness, reasonableness and non-discrimination are required by law.
“At the same time, we must be prepared to fight a ‘protracted war’. We don’t seek quick wins, and we are not afraid of defeat. It is successful to charge more or less. But charging is not the ultimate goal. The most important thing is that we sort out the differences between the two sides through communication and negotiation. relationship.” Mentioned in the text.
It is understood that for more than 20 years, Huawei has innovated around ICT standards, and has formed high-value technologies such as 5G, WIFI, audio and video codecs and related patent packages around the world. At the same time, it is also pre-researching 6G, WIFI7 and AI Video Coding and other next-generation standard technologies, as well as pre-researched new standard technologies such as star flash short-distance communication technology and UWA ultra-high-definition video technology.
