Nokia, Vivo Ends IP Dispute By Signing 5G Patent Deal

Nokia Corporation and China's vivo mobile phone maker announced on Monday, Feb. 5, that they have signed a licensing contract for a 5G patent. The companies shared they agreed to a multi-year deal, and the latter will start recognizing net sales under the agreement in the first quarter of this year.

End of IP Disputes

Reuters says this would be Nokia's sixth license agreement with major mobile makers. The Finnish telecom company has signed five similar deals with Samsung, Apple, Honor, Huawei, and OPPO in the last 13 months.

Nokia said that its new deal with Vivo will effectively end all intellectual property-related disputes between them and settle the pending patent litigation they still have in all jurisdictions.

Terms of the Deal

Under the agreement, vivo will pay royalty fees to Nokia, including catch-up payments that cover the period mentioned in their dispute. But while the two confirmed the deal today, they did not disclose the financial terms. All the other details of the 5G patent cross-license agreement also remained confidential, as agreed by the companies.

"Together these licensing agreements demonstrate Nokia's significant contribution to developing key technologies relied upon by the entire smartphone industry and they will provide long-term stability to our licensing business for years to come," Nokia Technologies' President Jenni Lukander said in a press release.

He added that the whole team is happy to have reached an agreement with vivo Mobile Communications as this development only shows mutual respect for intellectual property (IP) rights. Nokia's president said that through this partnership, they look forward to offering more innovation to their users worldwide.

Vivo Mobile Communication's legal affairs unit general manager, Xianwen Xu, also said, "Vivo has dedicated significant resources to R&D in the field of 5G technology and established a comprehensive IP portfolio globally, creating an industry-leading patent portfolio. We are pleased to have reached a global cross-license agreement with Nokia."

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