Nokia is taking legal action against Oppo in England, France, Germany and India. Nokia’s allegations concern several patents that are important for the 5G wireless standard as well as patents for interface and security technologies.
In 2018, Nokia and Oppo signed a multi-year patent license agreement, but it expired in June 2021. According to Nokia, both parties could not agree on a new patent license agreement, in the course of which the company is taking legal action against Oppo. Oppo faces the risk that courts will ban the sale of its smartphones.
Nokia said in a statement: “We have been negotiating the renewal of our patent licensing agreement with Oppo but unfortunately they have rejected our fair and reasonable offers. Litigation is always our last resort and we have offered to enter into independent and neutral arbitration to amicably resolve the matter. We still believe this would be the most constructive way forward.”
At the time, neither Nokia nor Oppo made details of the agreement public. Citing the European Patent Office, Gizchina.it reports that under the previous contract, Oppo was obliged to pay Nokia 3 euros in patent fees for every Oppo smartphone sold.
Nokia is one of the major patent holders and earned 1.5 billion euros in license income last year. The company has license agreements with companies like Samsung, Xiaomi, LG, Apple and Blackberry.
