Nokia, Oppo end patent dispute, sign 5G deal

Telecoms firm Nokia has signed a multi-year global patent cross-license agreement with China’s Oppo, the Finnish company said on Wednesday.

The deal also includes cross-licensing for 5G standard-essential patents.

Nokia and Chinese device maker Oppo have been in a dispute for over two years regarding 5G patent payments.

The company said the agreement resolves all pending patent litigation between the parties, in all jurisdictions.

Under the latest deal, Oppo would make royalty payments, along with catch-up payments to cover the periods of non-payment.

The terms of the agreement remain confidential as agreed between the parties.

Nokia said the agreement is consistent with the assumptions it has disclosed in the commentary concerning Nokia Technologies long-term outlook in its third-quarter results.

The company would also begin recognising net sales from the deal, including catch-up payments covering non-payment during the dispute period, in the first quarter.

Nokia Technologies is progressing toward the conclusion of the smartphone renewal cycle and says it 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 1.4-1.5 billion euros (1.53 to 1.64 billion U.S. dollars) in the mid-term.

Jenni Lukander, president of Nokia Technologies, said, “We are delighted to have reached a cross-license agreement with Oppo that reflects the mutual respect’s intellectual property and Nokia’s investments in research and development and contributions to open standards.

The new agreement along with the other major smartphone agreements “we have concluded over the past year would provide long-term financial stability to our licensing business.’’