Shillong, August 4: The Supreme Court delivered a significant ruling on Friday, dismissing Chinese smartphone brand OPPO’s plea against a Delhi High Court order.
The High Court had directed OPPO to deposit 23% of the amount generated from its sales in India for infringing upon Nokia’s patent. The court found that OPPO was using Nokia’s technology without the necessary consent.
As per IANS, the penalty of 23% was determined by the Delhi High Court, taking into account OPPO’s sales in India, which represent approximately 23% of its global sales.
Nokia Technologies welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, stating that OPPO had been unwilling to renew its license on fair and reasonable terms and had used their technology without making royalty payments for two years.
Courts in India, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Brazil have all ruled in favor of Nokia in various patent disputes against OPPO.
Nokia had previously granted OPPO a license in 2018 to use some of its technology for three years. However, after the expiration of the agreement, Nokia alleged that OPPO sold around 77 million devices in India without paying any royalty.
In July 2022, a German court also ruled in favor of Nokia in a 4G/5G patent dispute against OPPO. The suit resulted from the breakdown of discussions between the two companies over 4G (LTE) and 5G patents.
Nokia had filed a lawsuit against OPPO, claiming infringement on nine Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) and five implementation patents in three regional German Courts.