Recently, several reports have been published about the cooperation between Samsung and Huawei. In some of these news, it is stated that Huawei has granted permission to use some of its 5G and non-5G patents to some brands such as Samsung and Oppo. Now, a new report from The Elec claims that the Galaxy phone maker has transferred 98 of its US patents to Huawei over the past month. These patent certificates include 81 patents that the South Korean technology giant assigned to the Chinese company in 2019. Thus, the total number of patents that Samsung has transferred to Huawei reaches 179.
Samsung and Huawei signed a mutual license transfer agreement in 2019 to end their dispute over patents. The number of patent certificates that the Korean company transferred to the Chinese company was probably worth ending these disputes. The patents that Samsung has assigned to Huawei include patents related to telecommunications, charging, cameras, displays, and more. The South Korean tech giant has also transferred some of its US patents registered in Korea to Huawei.
When two companies enter into an agreement for the mutual use of each other’s patents, usually one of the parties to the deal pays more than the other because of the difference in the number and quality of the inventions of both parties. Xiaomi and Microsoft also signed a similar cross-licensing agreement in 2016, where Xiaomi probably paid more due to having fewer patents.
Huawei and Samsung disputes over patents
The patent disputes between Samsung and Huawei include patents related to telecommunications, and the Chinese company has more patents in this field. The Korean tech giant is also likely to hand over some of its patents to Huawei as the deal between the two brands mostly covers 5G patents. In other words, Samsung has fewer inventions than Huawei in this field. Due to the heavy sanctions of the United States against Huawei and the significant decrease in the company’s income, especially in the smartphone market, it has turned its focus to making money from the sale of its patent licenses. Gizmodo He says that the income of this company is increasing from the sale of licenses of the patents it has.
First, Huawei signed an agreement with Guangdong Mobile Communications Company Oppo for the mutual use of global patents in the field of 5G standards. The company then entered into another agreement with Samsung for the mutual use of essential 5G patents.
Patent cross-licensing agreements usually refer to two or more large companies that can license each other’s patents under certain conditions. Patent cross-licensing shows the respect of the parties to the intellectual property rights. This action also reduces the costs of using patents and is useful for promoting technical exchanges and research and development, and ultimately can help make better products.
Source link
