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 essential patent portfolio, and ruling that the global cumulative rate of 5G standard in the mobile phone industry is 4341%-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 first-instance judgment of **, the Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court determined that the global cumulative rate of the 5G standard in the mobile phone industry is 4341%-5.273%, which is the cumulative rate of 5G standards determined for the first time worldwide.
It may be that due to the confidentiality of the content and other reasons, many places in the judgment document of ** have been blacked out, but it can also be clearly seen that the Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court made a determination on the key points 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: 1$151 units;Zone 2 (Chinese mainland) and Zone 3 (except No. 1).
Countries and regions other than Zone 1 and Zone 2): 0$707 units;
4G multi-mode mobile phone single license fee:
Zone 1: 0$777 units;Zone 2 (Chinese mainland) and Zone 3 (except No. 1).
Countries and regions other than Zone 1 and Zone 2): 0$477 units.
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 globally at that time, involving nearly 470,000 patent families, of which China claims 1There are more than 80,000 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 5700+ global patent applications, declared 2900+ 5G standard patents in ETSI, and submitted more than 9000 standard manuscripts in 3GPP.
In the statistical report of the Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Nokia's 5G standard patents accounted for 682%。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 consultancy PA Consulting, Nokia is leading the way in 5G standard essential patents (SEPs), with a 16% share of 5G SEP worldwide. 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, and the patent fee is 2Between $5 and $5;In 2018, Nokia announced that the fee for 5G patents is 3 euros per unitQualcomm's charging standard is 2 percent of the price of a 5G single-mode mobile phone275% to charge, 5G multi-mode mobile phone at 325% charged.
In other words, a $200 5G multi-mode phone may need to pay Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei respectively5-5 dollars, 3 euros (currently about 3.)$3. $5, which adds up to about $123-14.$8, not counting the license 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 mobile phone industry's 5G standard global cumulative rate is 4341%-5.273%, that is to say, for a $200 5G mobile phone, the cumulative 5G patent fee for the whole machine is capped at about 10The US$55 (including the total SEP licensing fees charged by Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei, and other SEP licensors) is much less than the total patent licensing fees that need to be paid according to the fees 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 filed two global FRAND fee 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, OPPO's Chief Intellectual Property Officer Feng Ying 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 patent fees, and that the fees that OPPO will have to pay will cover the entire period of unauthorized access." 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.