BREAKING：Shanghai Langbo, Apple probably ink 4G/5G Patent License Agreement

Both parties withdraw all cases in Chinese district courts

On July 16, 2024, PRIP Research exclusive news report that Shanghai Longbo Communication Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Shanghai Longbo") and Apple Inc. have withdrawn all infringement and administrative litigation cases filed by both parties in the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court and Beijing Intellectual Property Court.

This move means that the patent licensing dispute that has lasted for more than two years between the two parties seems to have reached a settlement.

Shanghai Langbo, also known as China's InterDigital, was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Shanghai, China. With a focus on patent research and development, the company focuses on innovation and development of 4G and 5G communication standards.

Shanghai Langbo has 7 doctoral experts in the field of wireless communication, including the founder and CEO. Members have served in the standardization research departments of Sony, Sharp, Philips, Bell Labs China, Huawei, ZTE, Spreadtrum, European Institute of Electrical Engineering, and Datang Mobile, all with 10-20 years of work experience in the wireless communication field.

Since its establishment, Shanghai Longbo has submitted over 500 3GPP proposals and developed more than 1000 patents, including over 100 SEP standard patents.

However, before Apple, Shanghai Longbo had not publicly announced that it had reached a licensing agreement, and there was even no record of patent litigation.

More importantly, there are records of patent transactions and transfers. For example, since 2019, patents have been transferred to foreign companies such as Sisvel, Hedwig Wireless Technologies, LLC, APEX Beam Technologies, as well as Dido Wireless Innovations LLC, a subsidiary of Longhorn. Meanwhile, domestic Honor Company has also purchased patents from Shanghai Langbo.

Therefore, if Shanghai Longbo can reach a patent licensing agreement with Apple, it will have a positive impact on its continued investment in research and development.

This will also be the fifth Chinese company to receive patent licensing compensation from Apple after paying licensing fees to Huawei, ZTE, Datang Mobile, and IWNCOMM.

Looking back at the dispute between the two parties, in 2022, Shanghai Longbo sued Apple Inc. for infringement of its invention patent to the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court, case number （2022）沪73知民初978号。

Subsequently, Apple has filed invalidation challenges against at least three patents of Shanghai Longbo. In the end, one patent of Shanghai Langbo was declared completely invalid, one was partially invalid, and one remained valid. Overall, it has maintained a high level of quality under the challenge of Apple.

After the licensing negotiations between Shanghai Longbo and Apple are concluded, the next target is likely to be Samsung, followed by other smartphone companies.

In addition to focusing on the mobile phone industry, Shanghai Longbo also became the founding licensor of Sisvel's newly established cellular IoT patent pool in November 2022. However, Shanghai Longbo has not joined the automotive patent pool Avanci, and there is currently no news of conducting automotive patent licensing.

#The above content is from Google Translate of PRIP Research's Chinese WeChat webpage

Source：

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzIxNzc4NzI5NQ==&mid=2247506531&idx=1&sn=f4c86a64856266c24b7b6817b4818307&chksm=97f6e493a0816d85f832da0dc1b9cb3777f510d80690183f884146b9e7b4b28461e37a984950&token=802714130&lang=zh_CN#rd

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