Sharp – Oppo patent dispute ends with cross-license deal

October 9, 2021

2 min read

Suddenly kicked off early last year, by Sharp sues Oppo In the beginning of the litigation battle, after several rounds of Sharp suing Oppo for infringing technology patents, Oppo and then opposing the escalation of Sharp infringing patents, the battlefield has also expanded from Japan to Europe and even Taiwan. Since the two parties seem to be evenly matched, it was previously speculated that it may end up with a settlement and signing a licensing agreement, and this is not surprisingly the result jointly announced by both parties today. The global patent dispute began in 2020. Both companies agree to dismiss the case following the signing of the cross-licensing agreement, which demonstrates the value of both companies’ patent portfolios.

Sharp and Oppo have announced a patent cross-licensing agreement and cooperation, which covers the global patent license required for the implementation of communication technology standards for the sales of their terminal products. At the same time, the two parties also agreed to withdraw litigation around the world and end patent litigation and disputes in multiple countries since 2020. However, since Sharp was the initiator of the original patent war, such a “tie” ended, in fact, it should be regarded as Sharp’s failure and failed to achieve the goal of initiating the patent war.

“Sharp views that this agreement reflects both parties respect the values of each intellectual property. While we license standard essential patents for communication technologies to various leading companies, we are pleased that with this agreement, we can update the value of our patent portfolio once again,” said Mototaka Taneya, Executive Managing Officer, Corporate Research & Development BU President at Sharp.

“OPPO believes deeply in the value of innovation and highly respects intellectual property. We are pleased with the outcome that both companies resolve the global patent disputes in an amicable way. The cross-licensing agreement again recognizes OPPO’s IP strength,” said Adler Feng, Senior Director of Intellectual Property at OPPO.