Under the showdown between OPPO and Nokia, the world's first 5G patent rate judgment has been released!
On December 14, it was reported that recently, the Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court made a first-instance judgment on the OPPO v. Nokia standard essential patent royalty dispute, confirming the global fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) license rate of Nokia's 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G standard patent portfolio, and ruling that the global cumulative rate of 5G standard in the mobile phone industry is 4.341%-5.273%. This judgment is the world's first global licensing rate judgment for 5G-related SEPs made by a Chinese judicial authority.
According to the exposed first-instance judgment documents, the Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court determined that the global cumulative rate of the 5G standard in the mobile phone industry is 4.341%-5.273%, which is the first cumulative rate of the 5G standard determined in the world.
It may be that many places in the exposed judgment documents have been blacked out and covered up due to reasons such as confidentiality content, but it can also be clearly seen that the Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court made a determination on the focus of the case, that is, the reasonable license fee of Nokia's 2G-5G patent portfolio:
5G multi-mode mobile phone single license fee:
Zone 1: USD 1.151/unit; Zone 2 (Chinese mainland) and Zone 3 (countries and regions other than Zones 1 and 2): USD 0.707/unit;
4G multi-mode mobile phone single license fee:
Zone 1: USD 0.777/unit; Zone 2 (Chinese mainland) and Zone 3 (countries and regions other than Zones 1 and 2): USD 0.477/unit.
In this judgment, the value ratio of 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G intergenerational standards in 5G multi-mode mobile phones was also determined, and the corresponding value ratio of 5G-2G was 50:40:5:5.
According to the relevant report released by the Intellectual Property Development Research Center of the State Intellectual Property Office in early June 2022, there were more than 210,000 5G standard essential patents declared worldwide at that time, involving nearly 47,000 patent families, of which China declared more than 18,000 patent families, accounting for nearly 40%, ranking first in the world. In terms of applicant rankings, Huawei has declared more than 6,500 5G SEP families, accounting for 14%, ranking first in the world.
According to the official data released by OPPO, as of September 30, 2023, OPPO has deployed 5G communication standard patents in more than 40 countries and regions around the world, completed a total of 5,700+ global patent applications, declared 2,900+ 5G standard patents in ETSI, and submitted more than 9,000 standard manuscripts in 3GPP.
In the statistical report of the Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Nokia's 5G standard patents accounted for 6.82%. However, according to a press release published on Nokia's official website in April 2021, Nokia had about 20,000 patent families at that time, including more than 3,500 that were declared 5G SEPs. According to an independent study by British consulting firm PA Consulting, Nokia is leading the way in 5G standard essential patents (SEPs), accounting for 16% of the global 5G SEP share. This should refer to an authorized 5G SEP, not an applied 5G SEP.
It is worth noting that in 2017, Ericsson disclosed the patent fee standard for 5G multi-mode mobile phones, which ranged from $2.5 to $5 according to the sales price of mobile phones; in 2018, Nokia announced that the 5G patent fee standard was 3 euros per unit; Qualcomm's fee standard was 2.275% of the price of 5G single-mode mobile phones, and 3.25% of the price of 5G multi-mode mobile phones.
In other words, a $200 5G multi-mode phone may need to pay Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei 2.5-5 US dollars, 3 euros (currently about 3.3 US dollars), and 6.5 US dollars, respectively, for a total of about 12.3-14.8 US dollars, not counting the patent licensing fees that other licensees with SEP patents may charge.
Obviously, judging from the latest verdict, the SEP patent licensing fee that OPPO needs to pay to Nokia is significantly lower than the 3 euro cap originally set by Nokia.
In addition, this judgment is the first time that a Chinese court has made a global rate judgment on a SEP lawsuit. As early as 2021, the Supreme People's Court for the first time ruled in the OPPO Sharp Standard Essential Patent Licensing Dispute that Chinese courts have global rate jurisdiction over standard patents.
The ruling ruled that the cumulative global 5G standard rate of the mobile phone industry is 4.341%-5.273%, which means that the cumulative 5G patent fee for a $200 5G mobile phone is capped at about $10.55 (including the total SEP licensing fees charged by Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei and other SEP licensors), which is far less than the total patent licensing fees that need to be paid according to the charging standards of Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei.
It can be said that the judgment of Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court provides a reference standard for subsequent disputes over SEP patent authorization rates related to the mobile phone industry. While protecting the interests of SPE patent licensors, it also effectively protects the rights and interests of global smartphone manufacturers.
It is reported that the global patent dispute between Nokia and OPPO broke out in July 2021, and the two sides have launched infringement lawsuits, rate lawsuits, patent invalidation and other offensive and defensive confrontations in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Finland, Sweden, India, Indonesia, China and other jurisdictions. So far, Nokia and OPPO have initiated two global FRAND rate lawsuits over this dispute, including the United Kingdom (High Court of England and Wales) and China (Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court).
Commenting on the verdict, Feng Ying, Chief Intellectual Property Officer of OPPO, said: "OPPO is willing to comply with and enforce the global FRAND royalties for Nokia's patents determined by the court judgment, and hopes to actively resolve the patent license fee dispute with Nokia. OPPO respects intellectual property rights and advocates reasonable fees, advocates the establishment of a long-term and healthy intellectual property ecosystem, advocates the settlement of intellectual property disputes between licensors and licensees through friendly negotiation, and respects the value of patents with each other. ”
Nokia said, "The Chongqing court's judgment shows that OPPO is obliged to pay Nokia royalties for the patents, and that the fees to be paid by OPPO will cover the entire period of unauthorisation." Our goal has always been to focus on the fair resolution of disputes. ”
The following is the full text of the judgment:
Editor: Xinzhixun-Rogue Sword