Nokia has just announced the extension of its patent technology agreement with Samsung. The Finnish company has officially licensed many of its mobile technologies to South Korea since 2016 in a contract that would expire at the end of 2018; now, it has been extended, allowing the later to use its patents for “multiple more years”.
The last agrément was signed 5 years ago. The period of the new contract hasn’t been specified as all terms of the agreement remain confidential between the two parties.
According to Nokia’s Chief Legal Officer’s statement, this time around, the license agreement doesn’t just cover phone patents but 5G network-related cellular standards as well.
The novelty, as usually happens with terms in this category, was not accompanied by details, but if you follow the pattern of the union between the two companies, you should ensure that Samsung can continue to use Nokia’s registered technologies until at least 2021. A necessary move for the Asian company, since many of the innovations present in its smartphones, mainly in terms of networks, are the result of licensing with the European company.
In a statement, Nokia cited Samsung as one of the leaders in the mobile market and also an old partner, with the continuity of this union guaranteeing the progress of these two statuses. According to the legal and technology director of the Finnish manufacturer, the extension is good news for both sides, demonstrating the strength of the patent portfolio of one and the desire to continue on top of the other.
In addition, the executive cited as fundamental the agreement, both in the continuity of its research and technology efforts and in the implementation of 5G networks, still in progress, but closer to end users than ever before.
The sale of patents is today one of Nokia’s main sources of revenue. Earlier, if not the largest maker of the mobile market, it turned its sights on the infrastructure sectors as smartphones dominated the segment. Recently, however, it has returned to the mobile world by licensing its brand to third parties and launching handsets with the Android operating system.