Nokia is one of the early players in the mobile phone industry and thus, the Finland-based company holds multiple patents that it licenses to other companies. To protect its intellectual property, it sues those who use the patented work without permission.
In line with that, Nokia has now sued the Chinese smartphone company OPPO for patent infringement in four countries — England, France, Germany, and India.
As per the report, OPPO has refused to renew the licensing agreement that allows the use of certain patents. Nokia had signed the agreement with the Chinese company back in the year 2018. It appears that Nokia is using the same legal teams that won the previous patent enforcement campaign against Lenovo and Daimler.
In its official statement, Nokia said that there have been negotiations between the two companies, but OPPO decided to go on its own and rejected all offers. It says: “We have been negotiating the renewal of our patent licensing agreement with Oppo but unfortunately they have rejected our fair and reasonable offers. Litigation is always our last resort and we have offered to enter into independent and neutral arbitration to amicably resolve the matter. We still believe this would be the most constructive way forward.”
On the other hand, OPPO says that Nokia’s action in the matter is “shocking” and has accused the Finnish company of dishonouring the patent licensing under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.
It’s noteworthy that the issue is not related to the Nokia’s OZO Audio Technology which OPPO has been using on several of its smartphones, including the Find X series and the Reno series. The exact patents of Nokia that OPPO is infringing has not been disclosed.
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