NEW DELHI: In a noteworthy ruling, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Delhi High Court order that directed the Chinese smartphone brand OPPO to deposit 23% of its India sales as compensation for infringing upon Nokia's patents.

The Delhi High Court's division bench had issued the order in July, finding OPPO guilty of using Nokia's patented technology without proper consent. The court arrived at the 23% penalty figure by considering OPPO's sales in India, which account for approximately 23% of its global sales.

A spokesperson from Nokia Technologies expressed satisfaction with the Supreme Court's decision, welcoming the vindication.

"Nokia has consistently extended fair and reasonable licensing offers to OPPO, but unfortunately, they refused to comply and have been using our technology without any royalty payments for the past two years," stated the Nokia spokesperson.

This case saw favorable verdicts for Nokia in courts across different countries, including India, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Brazil.

"Nokia urges OPPO to respect the rules and, like its competitors, enter into a licensing agreement based on fair and reasonable terms rather than persisting with unauthorized usage," the Nokia representative emphasized.

OPPO had initially secured a license from Nokia in 2018, permitting the use of some of the Finnish telecom gear company's technology for three years.

However, Nokia alleged that following the expiration of the agreement, OPPO went on to sell around 77 million devices in India without paying any royalties, as reported by various sources.

Notably, in July 2022, a German court ruled in favor of Nokia in a patent dispute related to 4G/5G technology against OPPO.

The lawsuit resulted from failed negotiations between the two companies concerning 4G (LTE) and 5G patents.

In the dispute, Nokia accused OPPO of infringing on nine Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) and five implementation patents across three regional German Courts.

It's worth mentioning that Nokia has invested a considerable sum of around $130.3 billion in 5G SEPs, making them a significant player in the segment.
 

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