China sets precedent in 5G patent royalty dispute between OPPO and Nokia

2023/12/15

Recently, Chongqing No.1 Intermediate People's Court has made a first-instance judgment on the dispute between OPPO and Nokia over Standard Essential Patent(SEP) royalties. The judgement, which sets the global fair, reasonable and non-discrimination (FRAND) rate for 2G-5G SEP patents of Nokia, is the first global licensing fee judgment of SEP patents made by Chinese judicial organs. According to the judgement, the Chongqing court set the FRAND rate for essential 5G patents  at between 4.341 percent and 5.273 percent. The court also decided on licensing fees for Nokia's 2G-5G patent packages in several regions. The fee in the first global zone is USD1.151 per 5G phone, while that in the second zone (which includes China) and the third zone is 70.7 US cents. For 4G phones, the fee is capped at 77.7 US cents per handset in the first zone, while in the second and third zones it is 47.7 US cents.