On October 8, Sharp announced that it has signed a cross-license agreement with OPPO, which covers global patent licenses for communications standards involved in the two parties’ end product sales. Meanwhile, the two companies agreed to withdraw lawsuits against each other, ultimately ending patent litigations and disputes between the two in various countries since 2020.

To protect its intellectual property, Sharp filed a patent infringement lawsuit against OPPO in March 2020 in the German Regional Court of Munich and District Court of Mannheim. The Japan-based corporation also filed a patent infringement lawsuit against OPPO in the Tokyo District Court. A month later, Sharp filed another lawsuit in Taiwan.

Sharp has now reached a cross-license agreement with OPPO, closing a series of patent litigations and disputes across different countries since 2020. Mototaka Taneya, executive managing officer and president of Corporate Research & Development Bureau, said that signing a cross-license agreement with OPPO signifies the two parties’ respect for each other’s intellectual property rights. While Sharp has licensed essential patents related to communications standards to several leading enterprises, the cross-license agreement with OPPO will again demonstrate the long-standing company’s patent portfolio value.

IP head of OPPO Alder Feng indicated that OPPO believes in research and development innovations, respects intellectual property rights, advocates for reasonable utilization of intellectual property and dedicates itself to establishing healthy intellectual property ecosystems. The Chinese company is pleased to see the patent disputes worldwide be settled peacefully. Similarly, the cross-license agreement reveals OPPO’s intellectual property value.

(Source of first image: TechNews)