Huawei Technologies has entered into a patent license agreement with Nordic Semiconductor. The agreement grants a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) royalty-bearing component-level license of Huawei’s low power wide area (LPWA) cellular internet of things (IoT) standard essential patents (SEPs) to Nordic and its customers.
Huawei and Nordic were able to conclude the agreement through a transparent and amicable discussion within a short period of time. With this agreement, Nordic can bring its cellular IoT customers comprehensive legal protection, and a practical and legitimate way to access and implement Huawei’s valuable standardised cellular IoT technology. This agreement is set to bring greater commercial and legal certainty to the IoT industry.
Commenting on the development, Zhang Xiaowu, head of European IPR Department, Huawei, said, “Huawei owns a leading portfolio of LPWA SEPs for LTE-M and NB-IoT, a subset of the 4G standard, which creates great value for IoT. Huawei is pleased to reach this license agreement with Nordic, which will enable and support a large-scale deployment of this low power cellular IoT technology by different industries, further supporting the digital transformation of societies worldwide.”
Meanwhile, Marianne Frydenlund, SVP, Legal and Compliance, Nordic Semiconductor, said, “Licensing in cellular IoT is a comparably new practice in the industry, calling for flexible solutions. This agreement with Huawei is a big step towards harmonising the cellular IoT industry with FRAND SEP licensing practices employed throughout the global semiconductor industry. Both sides approached the negotiation in a reasonable and practical manner and recognised that simplification would help boost market growth to the benefit of all parties involved: Huawei, Nordic, and above all else, Nordic’s cellular IoT customers.”
