On 14 Dec. 2023, the Chongqing First Intermediate People’s Court issued a first-instance judgment on a standard essential patent (SEP) dispute between OPPO and Nokia, siding with OPPO’s arguments. The judgment affirmed the global fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) rates for Nokia’s 2G-5G standard essential patents, and set the global cumulative rates for the 5G standard in the mobile industry for the first time.
This is a major step forward for Chinese courts in patent disputes in the era of 5G, following the Supreme People’s Court’s (SPC) confirmation of Chinese courts’ jurisdiction over global SEP licensing disputes from 2022.
The patent dispute between OPPO and Nokia has been ongoing for over two years. In 2021, when the 4G licensing agreement between OPPO and Nokia expired, Nokia filed lawsuits against OPPO in multiple countries around the world as they were unable to reach a consensus on new licensing terms, including 5G standard essential patents. The litigation has now expanded to 12 countries.
This judgment by the Chinese court formally established the global cumulative rates for the 5G standard in the mobile industry as 4.341% to 5.273%.
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