By Oystein Bergmann, Bureau Chief, Scandinavia
Nokia has announced it has signed a multi-year patent cross-license agreement with vivo. Under the agreement vivo will make royalty payments to Nokia, along with catch-up payments to cover the dispute period. 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.
President of Nokia Technologies, Jenni Lukander said: “This is the sixth major smartphone patent license agreement we have signed in the past thirteen months, and we have now almost completed our smartphone license renewal cycle. Together these licensing agreements demonstrate Nokia’s significant contribution to developing key technologies relied upon by the entire smartphone industry and they will provide long-term stability to our licensing business for years to come.” Lukander added: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with vivo which reflects mutual respect for each other’s intellectual property rights. vivo is one of the leading players in the global smartphone industry. We look forward to bringing more innovation to their users around the world through our collaboration.”
General Manager of Legal Affairs Department at vivo Mobile Communication Co., Ltd., Xianwen Xu,stated, “We are pleased to have reached a global cross-license agreement with Nokia. Signing the agreement, reflects the mutual recognition and respect for each other’s patent value in cellular technology and it also plays a significant role in fostering a positive development environment within the industry. We are dedicated to investing in R&D of smart devices and intelligent services, providing extraordinary hi-tech products and services for users worldwide.”
The agreement is consistent with the assumptions that Nokia has disclosed for Nokia Technologies in its Financial Report for Q4 issued on 25 January 2024. Nokia will begin recognizing net sales from this agreement, including catch up payments covering the periods of non-payment, in Q1 2024. Nokia Technologies is progressing towards the conclusion of the smartphone licensing 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 around €150 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.
