Nokia wins German injunction against Oppo
Nokia has secured a win in its global litigation battle against Oppo after a German court granted an injunction against a Wi-Fi-related patent.
The latest win continues Nokia’s global litigation campaign, but the Finnish company confirmed that it has withdrawn its complaint in Russia following the war in Ukraine.
Judge Holger Kircher handed down the decision at the Mannheim Regional Court's Second Civil Chamber on June 21.
Nokia sued Oppo and OnePlus for alleged patent infringement for injunctive relief, information and accounting as well as destruction, recall and damages.
One Plus is the German subsidiary of its China-based parent company, Oppo, and supports the marketing and sales of Oppo branded smartphones in Germany.
This particular case concerned the patent, EP1704731, described as a "method and apparatus for indicating service set identifiers to probe for”.
The patented tech identifies hidden networks that do not advertise their presence in beacon signals, according to Nokia.
Meanwhile, Oppo has lodged a parallel lawsuit arguing that this patent is invalid, which is due to come before the German Federal Patent Court under file number 4 Ni2/22 (EP) (Annex HL 4).
Yesterday, Judge Kircher ruled that “a stay of the legal dispute with regard to the nullity proceedings concerning the patent in suit was not appropriate”, and ruled in Nokia’s favour by granting an injunction affecting all of Oppo’s smartphones sold in Germany.
Commenting on the judgment, a Nokia spokesperson said: “We welcome the court’s decision. The judgment confirms the strength of Nokia’s leading patent portfolio.
“We have conducted our negotiations in a fair way and hope that Oppo will now accept its obligations and, like its competitors, renew their licence on fair terms, rather than continue to operate without one. It would be better for both parties to spend their time and money on innovating rather than fighting in court.”
Multiple patent lawsuits
Chinese mobile company Oppo signed a patent licensing agreement in 2018 to pay for their use of Nokia’s patent portfolio. The agreement expired at the end of June 2021, and Nokia took legal action when the companies failed to negotiate a renewal agreement.
The Finnish company then filed a plethora of patent lawsuits in Germany, UK, France, Spain, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and the Netherlands in the summer of 2021. Nokia has since confirmed that it withdrew its case in Russia, and has filed additional cases in Finland and Sweden.
The actions centre on a mix of cellular standard-essential patents (SEPs) and implementation patents covering connectivity, user interface and security technologies.
FRAND terms
As the patent underlying the injunction handed down this week is not standard-essential, it is not bound by a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing commitment but a case due to be heard again in Mannheim on July 5 will involve an SEP.
Back in November, the High Court of England and Wales dismissed an attempt by Oppo to stay Nokia’s SEP litigation due to parallel proceedings in China.
WIPR has approached Oppo and OnePlus for comment.
