Nokia’s auto licensing plan pays off as revenues jump 20%
Nokia’s licensing arm reported a 20% growth in revenue on last year’s quarter this morning, July 29, on the back of new patent licensing deals, including the landmark agreement with Daimler.
Nokia Technologies posted net sales worth €401 million ($476 million) for the second quarter of 2021, up from €341 million the year before. Overall, the division saw a half-year increase of 13% year-on-year to €766 million.
In addition to the Daimler deal, announced in May, Nokia confirmed it had also reached an agreement with “another automotive manufacturer”, which has not been named.
Both licensing deals generated net sales from the second quarter of this year, reflected in the €401 million figure.
In a press release accompanying the results, Nokia said the figures “underline the strength of our cellular portfolio and growth opportunities for our automotive licensing programme”.
Nokia licenses a broad portfolio of telecommunications-focused standard-essential patents (SEPs), which are becoming increasingly important in the automotive industry.
It is understood the second licensing deal was a bilateral agreement with a car manufacturer. The licence is believed to be on the end vehicle level.
Automakers such as Daimler have pushed back against SEP owners’ efforts to license their patents on this basis. The issue was the subject of a high-profile legal battle between the German carmaker and Nokia, which was resolved with the licensing deal announced earlier this year.
The Court of Justice of the European Union had been set to weigh in on the matter after a Düsseldorf court asked for its help in adjudicating the Nokia/Daimler dispute. But the pair’s settlement deal brought the case to an end, meaning the EU’s top court is yet to provide any formal guidance on one of the most contested issues in SEP licensing.
Nokia had gained the upper hand in the Daimler dispute after a series of victories in German courts, which found the German carmaker to have infringed Nokia’s patents. Daimler faced the threat of a potential injunction barring it from selling its cars on the German market.
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