Introduction: With the popularity of 5G, the game of 5G patent licensing rates and licensing conditions has spread around the world. Different from the status of followers in the 3G and 4G eras, this time, from Huawei's announcement of 5G licensing rates to OPPO's self-developed 5G base station patents in China and Germany's counter-sue Nokia, China's power is prominent. In order to bear in mind the precious imprint left by Chinese enterprises on the road of intellectual property construction, Jiweiwei has launched a series of articles "China's IP Power" in the communications SEP war to pay tribute to the forerunners and learn from the latecomers.
After experiencing the catch-up of the 2G era and the breakthrough of the 3G era, China's mobile communication technology has entered a rapid catch-up stage in the 4G era. In the 4G era, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have collectively risen, increased sales, expanded overseas, and ranked among the world's first camps, but as a result, they have encountered more challenges in patent litigation.
Among them, the patent war between Xiaomi and Ericsson, Huawei and Samsung, OPPO and Sharp is the epitome of this era.
Unlike the 3G era when domestic mobile phone manufacturers are generally in the learning stage of license negotiations and patent litigation, the strength of domestic mobile phone manufacturers in the 4G era has been further enhanced, the international vision has been further broadened, and more attention has been paid to the investment in intellectual property rights. Especially after experiencing the Apple vs Android and Qualcomm anti-monopoly cases, mobile phone manufacturers have gradually awakened their awareness of patent protection, and their ability to negotiate and sue has also been continuously improved, and they have begun to skillfully use legal means to deal with challenges from overseas patent giants.
Xiaomi vs Ericsson: Mobile phone manufacturers patent awareness awakening
At the end of 2014, Ericsson sued Xiaomi, which had just been on the Indian market for five months, for infringement of eight standard-essential patents such as ARM, EDGE, 3G and other related technologies. Subsequently, the Delhi High Court of India ruled that Xiaomi infringed Ericsson's patent and issued a pre-sale ban.
For a time, Xiaomi's entire line of mobile phone products were not allowed to "enter" the Indian market, which was undoubtedly a major blow to Xiaomi, which was actively seeking internationalization at that time.
Looking at the rapid growth of millet and the vast Indian market, Ericsson's choice to attack at this time can be described as "well-intentioned". At the same time, Ericsson has set off a number of patent litigation battles against Youxun, Acer, Netgear, Samsung, ZTE and other manufacturers overseas, as the company that held the most key patents for the 3G standard at that time, and the head manufacturer of 25% of the patents related to 4G standard LTE technology, Ericsson gave it a request.
At this stage, in the face of this situation, new mobile phone manufacturers such as Xiaomi generally lack sufficient countermeasures due to the lack of technical accumulation in the field of patents.
Since then, Xiaomi has avoided further losses by hiring a local legal team in India, paying the deposit in a timely manner, and selling more mobile phones from Qualcomm chips (due to the cross-patent authorization of Qualcomm and Ericsson), etc., but it was not until October 2019 that Ericsson and Xiaomi shook hands in Delhi, India, and the five-year patent dispute officially ended.
Although relying on Qualcomm's patent authorization will eventually solve the problem, the risk of relying on the patents of foreign enterprises to expand overseas markets is still very obvious.
India has forced xiaomi and other mobile phone manufacturers to realize the important role of intellectual property patents in mobile phones, and since then, xiaomi has significantly accelerated its progress in patent layout and protection, trying to solve the weak situation in patents.
For example, in 2014, Xiaomi established Zhigu Patent Operation Company, and carried out patent acquisition and patent licensing cooperation around the world, including later cooperation with Intel, Microsoft and Nokia, sounding the clarion call of patent reserves.
Huawei vs Samsung: Chinese and foreign mobile phone manufacturers patent matching
In the 4G era, China's mobile phone manufacturers have risen in an all-round way, and with the improvement of their capabilities, they have the strength and confidence to play with overseas giants.
The most obvious feature is that mobile phone manufacturers no longer passively cope with the challenges from patent litigation, but increasingly choose to take the initiative and actively respond to lawsuits and counterclaims overseas and domestically.
Since 2011, Huawei and Samsung have held several rounds of negotiations on patent cross-licensing, but have not made substantial progress.
In May 2016, Huawei took the lead in suing Samsung for patent infringement, announcing that it had officially filed an intellectual property lawsuit against Samsung in the California Northern District Court and the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, and then Samsung also responded by patent prosecution, which was also the first time that Chinese and foreign mobile phone manufacturers staged a technology patent confrontation.
In 2017, the Quanzhou Intermediate People's Court ruled that Samsung and the other three defendants constituted patent infringement against Huawei Terminal Co., Ltd. and needed to jointly compensate 80 million yuan.
In May 2019, Huawei and Samsung announced a global settlement in a series of infringement disputes involving standard-essential patents. In the past eight years, the two sides have filed more than 40 lawsuits in China and related countries. This is also the first time that Huawei has signed a cross-licensing agreement with Samsung.
Huawei and Samsung have come and gone, on the one hand, there is the determination and confidence to try to impact apple's Samsung camp at that time. According to the statistics of the number of international PCT patent applications released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2015, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. applied for 3898 patents, ranking first among global enterprises for the second consecutive year.
On the other hand, it is also the performance of Chinese mobile phone manufacturers to become bigger and stronger after the accumulation of technology research and development, market sales and international experience has accumulated to a certain extent in terms of patent protection from familiar rules to rules of use.
At the same time, the confrontation and reconciliation between Huawei and Samsung also provides a reference case for other domestic mobile phone manufacturers, that is, to pay attention to patent layout and technology research and development, so as to have enough "bottom cards" in the game with giants.
OPPOvs Sharp: The strength behind the "Blitzkrieg Strikes Back"
At the end of the 4G era, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have fully occupied the C position, whether it is technical strength or brand influence. In terms of patent protection, these manufacturers have gradually established a moat. In the face of some challenges and harassment from overseas giants or "PAEs" (PAEs or patent operating entities), they have become more and more comfortable.
Typical such as OPPO and Sharp's patent war.
At the end of January 2020, Sharp filed a patent infringement lawsuit against OPPO in the Tokyo District Court, and within the next three months, Sharp launched patent litigation against OPPO in many countries and regions around the world.
In response, OPPO counterclaimed Sharp in the Tokyo Court of Japan and the Intermediate Court of Shenzhen in China respectively, and continued to file invalidation applications against Sharp's patent with the State Intellectual Property Office. Commendably, this includes OPPO's first lawsuit against Sharp's mobile phone infringement in Japan with its own patents in the field of charging.
In the end, Sharp,which took the lead in triggering the war, failed in lawsuits in various countries and regions around the world, and OPPO won a comprehensive victory in the lawsuit, and the two sides reached a settlement this year. The outstanding feature of this settlement that is different from a general patent litigation settlement is that the two parties have reached not a license agreement, but a cross-licensing agreement. This means that OPPO not only gets a reasonable license rate, but its patent value also wins Sharp's recognition.
This kind of "lightning counterattack" in the field of patents and the final victory reflects oppo's accumulated strength in patents.
Among the top 10 domestic invention patent authorizations (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) in 2019 released by the State Intellectual Property Office, OPPO ranked third, second only to Huawei among enterprises in the same industry. Moreover, this is the second year that OPPO has been listed in the top three of the list, and the number of patents granted by OPPO in 2019 has increased significantly compared with 2018. In the field of communications, oppo's advantages are even more obvious. According to the data of the State Intellectual Property Office, oppo ranked second in the H04 (electrocommunication technology) category with 1391 invention patents authorized.
According to OPPO's official disclosure, as of September 30, 2021, OPPO has applied for more than 73,000 patents worldwide and authorized more than 33,000 worldwide. Among them, the number of invention patent applications exceeded 66,000, and invention patent applications accounted for 90% of all patent applications. Oppo ranks in the top 10 worldwide according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ranking of the number of applications under the International Patent Treaty (PCT) in 2020. According to the data of the enterprise check, in the ranking of the number of invention patents from 2015 to 2020, OPPO ranked fifth, second only to Huawei among mobile phone companies.
In fact, before the settlement with Sharp, OPPO has successively settled or cooperated with Sisvel, ZTE, NTT DOCOMO and other companies in the field of patents, which also reflects OPPO's strength in patents.
More importantly, from the perspective of a series of means and measures for OPPO to launch a lawsuit against Sharp, it is tough and calm, and also lets foreign rights holders know that the negotiation is not a unilateral wave of the patent "stick" to give and take, which sets a benchmark for domestic counterparts in negotiating authorization, and also highlights the strength and self-confidence of Chinese mobile phone manufacturers.
From Huawei to OPPO, behind this series of lawsuits is the rise of patent awareness and ability of Chinese mobile phone manufacturers. After experiencing the obscurity of the entire 3G era, in the 4G era, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have finally bloomed their own brilliance on the international patent stage, and with the advent of the 5G era, the light is gradually flourishing.
(Proofreading/Jouvet)