Nokia Signs 5G Patent Cross-License Agreement With Vivo

Nokia has signed a multi-year 5G patent cross-license agreement with Vivo, under which Vivo will make royalty payments to Nokia along with catch-up payments to cover the dispute period.

According to the Finnish telecommunications and technology company, the agreement resolves all pending patent litigation between the parties, in all jurisdictions.

This is the sixth major smartphone patent license agreement Nokia has signed in the past 13 months, as part of its smartphone licence renewal cycle.

Jenni Lukander, president of Nokia Technologies, said, “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 will begin recognising net sales from this agreement, including catch-up payments covering the periods of non-payment, in the first quarter of 2024. The company said it is progressing towards the conclusion of the smartphone licensing renewal cycle.

Xianwen Xu, general manager of legal affairs department at Vivo, said, “We are pleased to have reached a global cross-license agreement with Nokia. We are dedicated to investing in R&D of smart devices and intelligent services, providing extraordinary hi-tech products and services for users worldwide.”

Nokia’s patent portfolio is built on around €150 billion invested in research and development since 2000 and is composed of around 20,000 patent families, including over 6,000 patent families declared essential to 5G.

Nokia said that it contributes its inventions to open standards in return for the right to license them on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms. Companies can license and use these technologies without the need to make their own substantial investments in the standards.