Chinese smartphone maker Oppo loses to Nokia in patent infringement case in Germany, potentially affecting sales
- The sales of some of Oppo’s OnePlus and self-branded handsets could be impacted after the Chinese company lost a patent infringement suit for the second time
- Oppo is the fourth-largest smartphone brand in Europe, behind only Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi
Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has lost a legal battle in a patent dispute with Nokia, which may prevent the Chinese smartphone company from selling certain OnePlus and self-branded handsets in Germany.
A regional court in the southwestern German city of Mannheim ruled in favour of the Finnish telecoms giant for the second time, determining that Oppo’s use of certain 4G and 5G telecoms technologies infringed on Nokia’s patents, the company said in a statement. The court issued its first ruling against Oppo, which covered Nokia’s Wi-fi patents, in June.
The court found that “Oppo is using Nokia’s patented technologies in its smartphones and is selling them illegally without a license”, Nokia said in a statement. The Finnish firm added that Oppo has refused to agree to fair licensing terms and turned down proposals to arbitrate the disagreement.
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The ruling could bar certain handsets from Oppo that use the disputed technologies from being sold in Germany, according to a report from Nokiamob.net, a website dedicated to Nokia-related news. This includes certain OnePlus models, an Oppo-owned brand that is popular in Europe.
Oppo made up 6 per cent of Europe’s smartphone market in the first quarter, according to Counterpoint Research, following Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case is just one of the latest intellectual property disputes between Chinese smartphone makers and overseas technology companies.
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The rise of Chinese smartphones
Amid slumping demand for smartphones, Oppo’s smartphone shipments fell 8 per cent in the first quarter, but it maintained its market share from the same period a year ago. Xiaomi’s market share rose to 19 per cent from 14 per cent a year ago, even as its shipments plummeted 36 per cent, the most of any of the top five brands for the region, according to Counterpoint.
Samsung, at 37 per cent, and Apple, at 24 per cent, held onto their top two spots for the quarter. Realme, an Oppo spin-off brand, came in fifth place at 2 per cent.
Nokia, a powerful player in the 5G market owing to its vast patent portfolio, first sued Oppo last year after failing to reach a licensing agreement in four European Union countries: Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands. It also filed suits in Finland and Sweden this year after withdrawing a case in Russia. In total, Nokia has sued Oppo in 11 countries.
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Even amid its decline in the handset market, Nokia has continued to build up its patent portfolio over the past two decades with 129 billion euros invested in research and development, according to the company’s website. The company’s portfolio covers about 20,000 patent families, including 3,500 patent families considered essential to 5G.
In 2021, Nokia reached a cross-licensing agreement with Lenovo covering multiple technologies, the Finnish telecoms giant announced at the time. The Chinese computer maker also agreed to make a net balancing payment to Nokia, but the details of the agreement were not disclosed.
