Huawei signs patent licensing contracts with Vivo and Amazon

According to recent pieces of information, Huawei and Amazon have signed a new patent licensing agreement. There are no details regarding the specific terms and conditions of the agreement. However, it covers video playback technologies and Huawei’s patented Wi-Fi.

Despite current geopolitical concerns, however, according to Alan Fan, head of Huawei’s intellectual property rights department, “American and Chinese companies and companies from different parts of the world are collaborating without restrictions in standards and patent licensing.” We all are aware of the tensions between China and United States. Huawei is facing difficulties in the international market due to data security concerns.

Some of the recent restrictions banned US firms from vital components to Huawei. All these measures have negatively impacted the smartphone business of Huawei. Despite this, the company is trying hard to regain its position in the industry. The Mate 60 series smartphones, the company’s first 5G-enabled devices in years, represented an encouraging turning point. It was followed by the release of the Nova 12 series that feature 5G features. Moreover, the company has debuted a laptop that is powered by an in-house chipset.

In addition to the recent agreement with Amazon, the company has signed a cross-licensing patent agreement with Vivo. The agreement focuses mainly on patents related to cellular standards, including 5G. As of December 31, 2023, Vivo possessed a strong patent portfolio with 25,000 families and had applications for patents in over 70 countries and regions. Of them, more over 6,000 families relate to 5G standard essential patents; more than 2,500 families have been reported to ETSI, and roughly 13,500 standard document submissions have been sent to 3GPP. One thing to notice here is that similar licensing agreements have been signed between Huawei and other Chinese smartphone companies like Oppo and Xiaomi.