Claims disputed patent is “irrelevant to 5G”

Chinese vendor OPPO is to appeal a ruling by UK High Court judge MR Justice Richard Meade that the Chinese vendor infringed a Nokia patent. Courts in Germany, and the Netherlands have already found OPPO infringed one of Nokia’s patented technologies in its smartphones. The  patent  covers the processing of transmission signals in a radio transmitter (ie smartphone).

There will now be hearings where the judge will consider arguments from Nokia and OPPO in relation to costs, requests for permission to appeal, and the grant of any injunction.OPPO has already suspended sales in Germany (see Mobile News, August).

Oppo stated:

“OPPO is disappointed by the Court’s first instance judgment. While we respect the ruling, we will seek permission to appeal the decision. The patent involved is a non-standard essential patent regarding the third-party SoCs used in certain OPPO products, which is irrelevant to any 5G standard essential patents. We will continue defending ourselves while the case is ongoing. At the moment, we note that the judgment records that our updated phones do not infringe”

Nokia says it would much rather work with OPPO and says OPPO can easily resolve this matter by renewing their license on fair terms, just as their competitors have and says “our door is always open for amicable discussions”.

“It’s time for OPPO to play by the rules and renew its license on fair terms.” Nokia Chief Licensing Officer, Mobile Devices Susanna Martikainen said.

“As a late entrant to the smartphone market, OPPO enjoys huge benefits from the open standards that Nokia has helped to develop through our research and innovation. OPPO has been able to enter the market with devices that are compatible with cellular networks around the world without having to make their own substantial investment in the global standards that shape how these devices and networks operate”, she added.

“OPPO rejected our fair and reasonable offers, insisting that they wanted to pay less than their competitors. Once it became clear OPPO were unwilling to agree to reasonable terms directly with us, we offered to enter into independent and neutral arbitration.

“Litigation is always our last resort, and we took every possible step to resolve the matter amicably, but by rejecting our offers and the proposed arbitration, OPPO left us with no choice. And so, we initiated legal action in a number of countries in Europe and Asia. The actions centre on a mix of cellular Standard Essential Patents and implementation patents covering connectivity, user interface and security technologies”.