After OnePlus, OPPO, and Vivo exited the German market, now, according to a Nextpit report, Realme is waiting for positive information on patent licensing negotiations with Nokia so that selected marketing measures can resume in Germany. But until then, the company will shift its budget to other markets in Europe. Therefore, consumers may not see the newly released Realme 11 series in German stores, and the same suspension of sales is likely to appear in France.
In August last year, global smartphone makers OPPO and OnePlus had stopped sales of smartphones and smartwatches in Germany after they lost a patent lawsuit against Nokia. The same happened to Vivo in April this year: The company made an announcement on its website, which reads "Vivo products are unfortunately unavailable in Germany. Accordingly, no product information is available on our German website."
As reported by Techgoing, Nokia had accused the companies of using its patented technology for processing 4G and 5G signals without paying for a license. All the three brands that exited the German market are owned by Chinese conglomerate BBK Electronics.
Nokia has taken action against Chinese phone brands on a global scale. Starting in 2021, Nokia has sued OPPO in more than 10 countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil, and India, with more than 100 cumulative cases.
In Germany alone, there are as many as a dozen patent cross-prosecutions between the two parties. Nokia has initiated more than 30 lawsuits against OPPO. The reasons include that the two parties failed to reach an agreement on 5G patent licensing.
In 2022, Nokia sued Vivo for similar reasons in Germany, Indonesia, India, China and other global jurisdictions. The lawsuit focused on the combination of cellular standard essential patents and implementation patents covering connectivity.
Nokia said that the patent license agreement that Vivo used to pay for Nokia's patented technology used in its equipment expired at the end of December 2021.
Before the license agreement expired, Nokia had negotiated a contract renewal with Vivo. "Unfortunately, vivo refused to accept our fair and reasonable offer. We also proposed an independent and neutral arbitration, but it was also rejected by vivo again."
However, Vivo believes that Nokia's patent offer is unreasonable. According to Observer.com, the company said: "In recent years, we have reached a cross-licensing with a number of leading companies under the consensus of mutual respect for the value of patents. At the same time, we continue to negotiate with Nokia on the renewal of the cross-license, but we believe that the obligation to provide reasonable licenses in accordance with the 'FRAND' (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) principle has not been fulfilled, and the two parties have not been able to reach an agreement for the time being."
For OPPO and Vivo, the suspension of sales in Germany does not have a big impact. Even in Europe, Vivo has basically not entered the top five, and the Chinese and Indian markets are the most important.
The patent lawsuit between Vivo and Nokia mainly involves 4G-related patents. However, there has been no unified standard in the industry on how to charge specific patents.
How can Chinese enterprises safeguard their legitimate rights and interests?
It is reported that OPPO has initiated multiple patent infringement lawsuits against Nokia in China and Europe since September 2021, using 5G base station patents to counter Nokia in reverse, in order to have obtained bargaining chips for patent licensing negotiations with Nokia.
At the same time, OPPO has also initiated invalidity lawsuits against some of Nokia's patents. According to the Daily Economic News, OPPO responded that "OPPO has received preliminary opinions on the validity of some of Nokia's patents sued in Europe from the European Patent Office and the court, but there are further trial procedures to be followed, and the validity of these patents has not yet been determined".
Thus it can be seen that, for Chinese phone brands, when encountering patent disputes overseas, the first step is to actively use legal weapons to protect normal rights and interests.
According to the 2022 Global Wireless Communication Network Technology Invention Patent Ranking List (TOP100) released by a third party, five Chinese manufacturers including Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, ZTE, and Xiaomi entered the TOP10, among which Huawei ranked second only to Qualcomm.
In addition, Chinese manufacturers such as China Xinke Group, China Mobile, China Telecom, Ziguang Zhanrui, and China Unicom are also on the TOP100 list.
However, the value of patents should not only depend on the quantity. Only by establishing patents based on strong independent innovation capabilities can it be possible to break through the blockade of other patent giants or sign a cross-patent licensing agreement with them.
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