Huawei and Xiaomi agree on global cross-licensing deal

The two Chinese mobile communications giants have come to a cross-licensing agreement regarding their patents. Huawei announced the deal on Wednesday. The companies have not revealed the details of the agreement.

According to Reuters, Huawei had filed suits against Xiaomi in China earlier this year for allegedly infringing four patents protecting wireless communication technology, smartphone photography and screen lock technology. The current agreement apparently puts an end to the patent litigation.

Alan Fan, Head of Huawei’s Intellectual Property Department, says, “We are delighted to reach this licensing deal with Xiaomi. This licensing agreement once again reflects the industry’s recognition of Huawei’s contributions to communications standards and will help us enhance our investment in researching future mobile communications technologies.”

Ran Xu, Xiaomi’s General Manager of Corporate Business Development and IP Strategy, says, “We are glad to reach a patent cross-licensing agreement with Huawei. This shows that both parties recognise and respect each other’s intellectual property.”

Not the first

In December 2022, Huawei entered into similar global cross-licensing agreements with Samsung, Oppo and 18 other companies.

The agreement with Samsung saw the latter transfer over a hundred US patents to Huawei. Huawei’s agreement with Oppo covers standard essential patents, especially 5G. According to media reports, Oppo is Huawei’s largest licensee in China in terms of the number of patents held and total devices sold.

The renewal of a patent cross-licensing agreement with Swedish company Ericsson followed in August this year. This deal covers access to each company’s 3GPP, ITU, IEEE, and IETF standards for 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular technologies, including network infrastructure as well as end devices.

The previous deal between the two companies was in 2016. They did not reveal the exact terms of the latest agreement.

Wi-Fi 6 up next

Earlier this year, the European Patent Office published the EPO Patent Index 2022: Huawei was the top contributor with 4,505 filed patents. Currently, according to the Financial Times, Huawei owns 20% of global patents, making it the world’s largest 5G patent owner.

In July 2022, Huawei announced that it would join Sisvel’s new Wi-Fi 6 patent pool as a founding member.

While JUVE Patent is not aware of any active patent litigation between Huawei and Xiaomi in Europe, last year Huawei demonstrated an intention to be more litigious over its patent portfolio. This included launching a series of lawsuits over Wi-Fi 6 patents against Amazon, Netgear and AVM in Munich and Düsseldorf.