By Staff Reporter
Shenzhen, August 1 – Huawei, one of the world’s largest patent holders, recently unveiled the royalty rates for its handset, Wi-Fi, and IoT patent license programs. The announcement was made by the company’s Chief Legal Officer, Song Liuping, at Huawei’s annual flagship event on innovation and intellectual property protection in Shenzhen, themed “Bridging Horizons of Innovations: Sharing IP, Driving Innovation.”
Over the past two decades, Huawei has been a significant contributor to mainstream ICT standards, including cellular, Wi-Fi, and multimedia codecs. The event featured expert sessions covering technologies applicable at home, on the go, and at work. Topics ranged from leading research on 5.5G, audio and video technologies, to innovative mobile phone features like ten-size adjustable apertures.
Huawei emphasized its commitment to licensing standard essential patents (SEPs) on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) principles. The company announced royalty rates for 4G and 5G handsets, Wi-Fi 6 devices, and Internet of Things (IoT) products, areas where Huawei holds a prominent position as a SEP owner. The rate caps for 4G and 5G handsets are set at US$1.5 per unit and US$2.5 per unit, respectively. For Wi-Fi 6 consumer devices, the royalty rate is US$0.5 per unit. Regarding IoT, the rate for IoT-Centric devices is one percent of the net selling price, capped at US$0.75, while the rate for IoT-Enhanced devices ranges from US$0.3 to US$1 per unit.
Alan Fan, Vice President and Head of the Intellectual Property Rights Department at Huawei emphasized that a positive cycle that protects, rewards, and encourages innovators is crucial for sustainable innovation. Fan stated, “Huawei takes a balanced approach to patent licensing. We believe reasonable royalty rates will incentivize both the creation and adoption of innovations.”
To date, Huawei has entered almost 200 bilateral patent licenses, and over 350 companies have obtained licenses for Huawei’s patents through patent pools. Huawei’s total past royalty payments have exceeded its total royalty collections, with licensing revenue amounting to US$560 million in 2022.
Tomas Lamanauskas, Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, acknowledged Huawei’s significant role in supporting cost-effective, inclusive innovation on a global scale. He emphasized the importance of conducive policies and frameworks to foster innovation ecosystems.
Huawei’s cumulative R&D investment over the past decade has totalled CNY977.3 billion. In 2022, its R&D expenditure accounted for 25.1% of its revenue, earning it the No. 4 spot worldwide in the 2022 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard.
Huawei has entered patent licenses with industry leaders like Samsung and Oppo, as well as top automakers such as Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, and others. The company is actively engaged with major global open-source industry organizations.
During the event, Huawei also launched its official licensing website, providing detailed information about the company’s bilateral licensing programs, ranging from mobile handsets to Wi-Fi and cellular IoT.
“Intellectual property is the great engine of cooperation in technology. It advances technology for everyone to enjoy,” said Randall R. Rader, former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
