Chinese telecommunications conglomerate Huawei and smartphone maker OPPO announced the signing of a global patent cross-licensing agreement covering cellular standard essential patents such as for 5G on December 9, reported Pandaily recently.

Shen Hongfei, the vice president of Huawei's legal department, was quoted as saying that OPPO paid for the license of Huawei's advanced 5G technology, and Huawei also obtained the patent license for OPPO's wireless standard technology under the new agreement.

An intellectual property insider said the mutual recognition of the two major leading manufacturers also shows the improvement in the overall patent strength of Chinese firms.

Huawei and OPPO are companies with relatively complete patent systems. On September 5, China's Intellectual Property Development Research Center of the Intellectual Property Office released the Report on Invention Patents Authorized by Private Enterprises in China (2021). Huawei ranked first with 7,630 invention patents, followed by Tencent and OPPO. In addition, Vivo, Gree, BYD, Lenovo, BYD, Baidu, and other enterprises also entered the top 10, according to the Pandaily report.

According to data released by Huawei, in the past year, the firm has reached nearly 20 new license agreements in the fields of smartphones, smart cars, networks, IoT, and more. Partners include Samsung, OPPO, and other manufacturers, among which OPPO is the largest company with the most patents.

Shen Hongfei also mentioned that most manufacturers had expressed their willingness to pay for patents to Huawei, but the rates are still under negotiation. Huawei estimates that about 350 million 5G mobile phones have been licensed by Huawei this year, added the Pandaily report.