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in the field of science and technology where innovation sets the trend, the importance of intellectual property rights is self-evident. patent issues are not only a game between technological research and development and commercial returns, but also a competition for advanced technologies.

"in the past year, huawei has signed 40 new patent licensing agreements. currently, 22 fortune 500 companies have become huawei's licensees." on september 6, huawei vice president and director of the intellectual property department fan zhiyong said at huawei's fifth innovation and intellectual property forum. huawei has always insisted on high r&d investment. in 2023, huawei's r&d expenditure was rmb 164.7 billion, accounting for 23.4% of its annual revenue. the cumulative r&d expenditure in the past decade has exceeded rmb 1.1 trillion.

with the increase in r&d investment, huawei's patent applications are also steadily increasing. by the end of 2023, huawei holds more than 140,000 valid authorized patents worldwide. after entering the forefront of the world in terms of the number of patents, what areas will huawei focus on in patent applications in the next step is one of the focuses of attention from the outside world.

in this regard, fan zhiyong responded to the media, including the reporter of "daily economic news": "the communication field is an important research direction for us. the development of each generation will drive the upgrading of the entire industry, such as the mobile internet in the 4g era, the video in the 5g era, and the autonomous driving brought by low latency. we also look forward to more technologies being gradually released in 5.5g. in addition, in the terminal field, we will also apply for some patents around the harmonyos next operating system to protect innovation. therefore, communication and terminals are two key areas that we pay relatively close attention to."

however, with the rapid deployment of 5g commercialization around the world, the patent war has reignited, and this time the protagonists are huawei and mediatek. in mid-july this year, mediatek issued an announcement to clarify media reports. in response to the news that "huawei filed a lawsuit against mediatek that may involve mobile communication technology patents", mediatek stated that this lawsuit has no significant impact on the company, the case has entered the judicial process, and the company will not comment. in the following days, there was news that mediatek and its subsidiaries hfi innovation and mtk wireless sued huawei in a british court for infringing the company's patents. behind this seemingly sudden lawsuit, there is actually a breakdown in protracted negotiations, and the patents of both parties are likely to involve cellular mobile communication technologies such as 5g.

huawei's previously announced patent licensing rates show that 5g mobile phones will not exceed us$2.5 per unit, and 4g mobile phones will not exceed us$1.5 per unit; the licensing rate for wi-fi 6 consumer products is us$0.5 per unit. judging from the patent pricing of 5g mobile phones, the standards announced by huawei are far lower than the rates announced by other overseas patent holders (qualcomm, nokia, etc.).

speaking of the lawsuit between the two parties, huawei's chief legal officer song liuping said: "huawei is currently the main contributor and patent owner of 4g and 5g standards. products made in accordance with 4g and 5g standards require licensing. through judicial intervention, it can more efficiently help both parties reach a licensing agreement in accordance with the principles of fairness, rationality and non-discrimination. the industry's general licensing will effectively promote open innovation in the industry and fully share the fruits of innovation."

regarding the difficulties faced in intellectual property protection, fan zhiyong believes that the establishment of cognition is an important issue in the intellectual property industry. "everyone needs to have an objective understanding of intellectual property protection, because intellectual property protection is different from commercial disputes. it is more of a judicial pricing issue, that is, how to determine the reasonable value of intellectual property. goods transactions are cash on delivery, while intellectual property, especially standard essential patents, users use them first and then pay, so its characteristics determine that patent licensing income needs to be obtained through negotiation, and judicial assistance and guidance are needed."fan zhiyong said.

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