Huawei Signs a Patent Cross-Licensing Agreement with its Rival Oppo

Oppo got global rights to Huawei's coveted 5G patents.

Huawei has announced a patent cross-licensing agreement with one of its biggest domestic competitors, Oppo. Thanks to it, Oppo received global rights to use 5G technologies developed by Huawei.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement is in line with Huawei's previous statements about its desire to increase patent revenues. The company said last year that it plans to charge other licensors $2.50 for each device using its technology. For example, Oppo and Vivo (both owned by BBK) shipped 51.7 million smartphones in Q3 2022. If Huawei technologies were used in each device, then with similar results during the year, BBK would pay its competitor more than $500 million annually.

Now Oppo will get access to some critical technologies. Approximately 18.3 percent of Huawei’s 5G patents fell under the Standard Essential Patent (SEP) category, meaning they were considered critical to the 5G standard.

“We are very pleased to enter into a patent cross-licensing agreement with Huawei. It clearly demonstrates that the two companies recognize and greatly respect the value of each other's intellectual property. It is a win-win deal for both sides” said Adler Feng, OPPO's Chief Intellectual Property Officer

The deal between Oppo and Huawei could attract the attention of regulators from the US and other countries. Huawei was placed on the trade blacklist by the Trump administration in 2019. Because of this, Oppo and BBK risk falling under secondary sanctions.