By Oystein Bergmann, Bureau Chief Scandinavia
Nokia has announced it has signed a new patent cross-license agreement with Honor covering both parties’ fundamental inventions in 5G and other cellular technologies. The terms of the agreement remain confidential between the parties.
Chief Licensing Officer Mobile Devices at Nokia Susanna Martikainen said: “We are delighted to have concluded an amicable patent cross-license agreement with Honor, one of the leading players in the Chinese smartphone market. It is the fourth major litigation-free smartphone agreement that Nokia has concluded over the past twelve months and highlights once again the strength of Nokia’s patent portfolio and decades-long contributions to cellular standards and other technologies.”
Head of Global Intellectual Property at Honor Wenyu Zhou said: “As both 5G SEP holder and implementor, Honor highly respects IP rights and strongly believes that reasonable value of IP is important to the development of mobile industry. The conclusion of the patent cross-license agreement shows Honor’s commitment on innovation to enabling a smart life across all scenarios and all channels, for all people.”
Nokia’s industry-leading patent portfolio is built on more than €140 billion(US$152.9billion) 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.
