Electronics

According to Watson & Band Import and Export Data Observatory, the global patent war between smartphone maker and mobile internet service provider OPPO and Nokia has been going on for a year, just as everyone is still speculating on whether OPPO will stop selling products in Germany At that time, there was new news in the dispute.

According to Watson & Band Data Observatory, OPPO has revised its counterclaims for several German patent infringements against Nokia, and began to seek injunctive relief in addition to demanding compensation. In addition, OPPO has obtained a new favorable result in the German lawsuit, with the Munich court in Germany recently agreeing to suspend the infringement proceedings of two other Nokia patents. In German proceedings, suspension generally means victory for the defendant, unless the patent in question can be confirmed valid in a parallel invalidation procedure, which generally takes 1 to 2 years to confirm.

At the same time, the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court also made a final ruling on the jurisdiction of OPPO v. Nokia's global licensing fee dispute, and rejected Nokia's appeal. The Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court determined that China is one of the main places for granting the SEPs involved, the place for negotiating the license agreement, the place where the contract is reasonably foreseeable after the conclusion of the contract, and one of the major places where the license is implemented, which is closely related to the dispute in the case. Contact, it is clear that the Chinese courts have jurisdiction in the OPPO v. Nokia case.

At present, OPPO has obtained 4 bans in Germany (OPPO is still appealing), and in turn, 4 patents of Nokia have been successfully suspended by OPPO in Germany, and the patent war between the two parties is still in a heated state.

According to Watson & Band Import and Export Data Watch report, "Nokia sued OPPO for infringement, not to pursue its infringement, but to achieve cooperation and gain benefits." Liu Yi, a risk compliance expert at Dow Jones, told reporters that at present, taking patents and Negotiations by emerging technology companies have become the main way for Nokia to survive. As Nokia completely withdraws from the mobile phone market, its patent licensing income has become the company's most important source of income. Since 2017, Nokia's annual revenue from patent licensing has been more than 1.5 billion euros, accounting for more than 85% of the company's net income. During this period, it has also happened with several large mobile phone companies such as Apple and Vivo due to patent fees. Patent Litigation.

In recent years, OPPO has continued to expand its patent layout in the process of going overseas, making Nokia smell a hint of crisis. According to public data, OPPO's global patent applications have exceeded 80,000, and the number of global authorizations has exceeded 40,000, of which invention patent applications account for 90% of all patent applications. According to the 2021 International Patent Treaty Application Number Ranking released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, OPPO ranks sixth in the world; in the report on the number of 5G standard-essential patent claims published by IPlytics, a leading German research institute in June 2022, OPPO ranks among the top eight globally. .

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation report, "OPPO's achievements in patents may have made Nokia feel threatened." Liu Yi said that many established foreign companies have made unreasonable high patent fees for Chinese companies entering the international market. Companies are unwilling to cooperate and threaten to sue. If Chinese companies blindly choose to accept their rules, they will inevitably reduce profits, make it difficult to obtain technological innovation, and can only move forward passively. If OPPO loses the patent battle with Nokia, the price of local mobile phones is bound to rise, which is also a big loss for consumers.

Liu Chunquan, a partner at Shanghai Duan and Duan Law Firm, believes that as Chinese companies continue to expand their influence overseas, it is only a matter of time before they encounter challenges from patent litigation. From another perspective, companies can realize the importance of patent protection. The phenomenon of patent litigation is unavoidable. Enterprises going abroad need to know more about foreign markets and legal rules.

"The hooligan act of initiating patent lawsuits without cooperation is aimed at money. If you can't take it out of order, you can only lure it. Some companies that are confident in the development of overseas business can expand their initial and overseas business overseas. When the scale is small, it is possible to take the initiative to negotiate with patent trolls who often initiate lawsuits, and it is possible to solve future risks at a very low cost." Yan Xin, director of Huawei's intellectual property department in Beijing, said.

According to Watson & Band Import and Export Data Observation report, "It is not entirely a bad thing for Chinese companies to deal with overseas patent lawsuits - on the one hand, when fighting back, it can prompt companies to reflect on whether their own patent quality is excellent, which helps to improve their own patents. Quality and layout level; on the other hand, enterprises can understand and be familiar with local legal rules and judicial procedures in actual combat, improve the experience and ability of the team, and improve the international level of corporate law." Yan Xin said.