Sisvel IoT patent pool welcomes Huawei as new member

Huawei is the latest company to sign up as a licensor to Sisvel’s Cellular IoT technology patent pool, becoming one of 25 companies to have joined. It now resides alongside members such as Koninklijke KPN N.V., Sony Group and Deutsche Telekom. Sisvel has also announced new per-unit royalty rates.

Sisvel president Mattia Fogliacco says, “I am proud to welcome Huawei to this important pool, which is poised to bring unparalleled efficiencies to both implementers and innovators in IoT markets. This is more proof of the work we are doing with cutting-edge companies to power innovation and a further sign of Huawei’s confidence in us, after they became a founding member of our Wi-Fi 6 pool.”

The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming more lucrative as technology to support its infrastructure develops. Sectors in which there is frequent patent litigation, including healthcare, telecommunication, automotives and manufacturing, are increasingly employing the technology and, according to Statista, the global IoT market was worth around $182 billion in 2020. This is projected to rise to over $621 billion by 2030.

Essential to the standard

Sisvel launched the Cellular IoT pool in November 2022, which had an initial main focus on smart meters and asset trackers. According to a Sisvel press release at the time, “[The patent pool] replaces a multitude of discussions, licence agreements, sales reporting obligations and invoices, with a single licence, single reporting and a single royalty payment.” It offers manufacturers FRAND licences to participants’ patent portfolios essential to the LTE-M and NB-IoT standards.

Sven Törringer, Sisvel’s cellular IoT programme manager, says, “We are excited to welcome Huawei, a major contributor to the development of cellular IoT, as a member. LTE-M and NB-IoT technologies are great solutions for anyone who wishes to connect products and services in the IoT arena, and Huawei’s presence further strengthens the pool’s licence offering as a one-stop shop for this market.”

Huawei’s adventures in Wifi 6

The Cellular IoT pool is not Sisvel’s only recent launch, however. In July 2022, Sisvel announced the launch of a new Wifi 6 patent pool, with Huawei, Philips, Mediatek, SK Telecom and Wilus as its first members. The company intended that the pool, which includes SEPs, will cover a new generation of wifi technology to improve connectivity for users in densely-populated spaces.

However, towards the end of 2022 Huawei launched a series of lawsuits over Wi-Fi 6 patents against Amazon, Netgear and AVM. While Huawei suffered two setbacks in the dispute at the Regional Court Düsseldorf over EP 3 143 741 B1 (case ID: 4c O 9/22) and EP 3 337 077 (case ID: (4c O 8/22), it has appealed to the Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf (case ID: I-2 U 63/23) over the first decision.

Netgear also filed nullity suits against both patents at the Federal Patent Court. The court has not yet scheduled the oral hearings.