Nokia, Honor sign 5G patent license deal

Telecommunications giant Nokia on Thursday signed a new patent cross-license agreement with Honor covering both parties’ fundamental inventions in 5G and other cellular technologies, said Nokia in a press release.

Nokia, however, did not disclose the terms of the agreement as it remained confidential between the parties.

“We are delighted to have concluded an amicable patent cross-license agreement with Honor, one of the leading players in the Chinese smartphone market. It is the fourth major litigation-free smartphone agreement that Nokia has concluded over the past twelve months and highlights once again the strength of Nokia’s patent portfolio and decades-long contributions to cellular standards and other technologies,” said Susanna Martikainen, Chief Licensing Officer Mobile Devices of Nokia.

“As both 5G SEP holder and implementor, Honor highly respects IP rights and strongly believes that reasonable value of IP is important to the development of mobile industry. The conclusion of the patent cross-license agreement shows Honor's commitment on innovation to enabling a smart life across all scenarios and all channels, for all people,” said Wenyu Zhou, Head of Global Intellectual Property of Honor.

Nokia’s industry-leading patent portfolio is built on more than €140 billion invested in R&D since 2000 and is composed of around 20,000 patent families, including over 6,000 patent families declared essential to 5G, the press release added.