Parent companies of members of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Huawei and Ericsson, have struck a long-term global patent licensing agreement as vendors. The agreement, covers the respective sale of network infrastructure and consumer devices, as well as granting access to each other’s technologies.
Huawei, the mother company of Huawei Ghana, stated the agreement covers patents essential to a wide range of standards set by bodies including 3GPP, ITU, IEE and IETF, covering 3G, 4G and 5G mobile technologies.
It did not reveal the length of the agreement, but Emil Zhang, head of the European IPR department at Huawei, told a briefing it is the first “long-term” deal the two companies had entered into.
With regards to royalties, Zhang stated only that there is a reciprocal arrangement between the two, as both will use each other’s patents.
“We need to pay Ericsson and Ericsson need to pay Huawei, so there is some net payment from one company to the other company.”
Meanwhile the Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson, Christina Petersson stated that they are pleased to announce their renewal of their global cross-licensing agreement with Huawei.
"Both companies are major contributors to mobile communication standards and recognize the value of each other's intellectual property.
This agreement demonstrates the commitment of both parties that intellectual property should be respected and rewarded, and that leading technological innovations should be shared across the industry. A balanced approach to licensing ensures that the interests of both patent holders and implementers are served fairly, driving healthy, sustainable industry development for the benefit of consumers and enterprises everywhere" she added.
According to Huawei, it has spent $125 billion on R&D over the past decade and tops the rankings for submissions filed with the European Patent Office in 2022, with 4,505 applications.
Ericsson meanwhile has been a leading contributor to 3GPP and to the development of global mobile standards over several decades. The value of Ericsson’s patent portfolio of more than 60,000 granted patents is strengthened by our leading position as 5G vendor, and annual investments of more than USD 4 billion in R&D.
Source: Mobileworldlive
