Huawei Licensing Snafu
Crystal Clear Codec (pvt) a company licensed in Texas in 2019 and Warsaw, Poland is suing Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi (1810.HK) and Oppo (pvt) for patent infringement after the companies challenged Crystal Clear’s patents under rules of the US National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a part of the US Homeland Security system and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program. The patents involved refer to EVS technology (Enhanced Voice Services) a codec that is used in packet-switched networks that improves quality, reduces error rates, and improves compression, which allows more efficiency and bandwidth across voice networks.
CCC has a portfolio of 12 patent families concerning EVS and licenses that IP to a variety of companies, with the IP EOL dates extending from 2026 to 2035. CC charges a rate of $0.44 for cumulative units of 10m, with tiered levels up to $0.29 for 60m+ units, relatively standard rates, but what makes this a bit unusual is the fact that much of the IP is assigned to Huawei (pvt), formerly the largest smartphone producer in China. Huawei has indicated tin the recent past that it was licensing its massive portfolio of broadband IP that it generated as a part of its smartphone and telecommunications product development over that last few years but with the demise of that business, the company has been looking to monetize those IP assets to make up lost revenue.
CCC is a licensing entity (NPE) that that has had a relationship with Huawei in the past, most likely as a patent representative that takes care of licensing details and more importantly protects the IP from those it believes are infringing. Last year the company initiated a lawsuit against Xiaomi for other Huawei based IP and las also initiated IP claims against Apple (AAPL) and LG Electronics (066570.KS), some of which are based on the IP that Oppo was trying to get invalidated. Huawei has also used other NPE’s to represent its IP interests in Wi-Fi, on occasion against Xiaomi and Oppo, which were settled, however while Huawei is certainly less a competitor in the smartphone business, they don’t seem to hesitate to make sure they are getting paid by other smartphone brands, regardless of where they are located.
CCC has a portfolio of 12 patent families concerning EVS and licenses that IP to a variety of companies, with the IP EOL dates extending from 2026 to 2035. CC charges a rate of $0.44 for cumulative units of 10m, with tiered levels up to $0.29 for 60m+ units, relatively standard rates, but what makes this a bit unusual is the fact that much of the IP is assigned to Huawei (pvt), formerly the largest smartphone producer in China. Huawei has indicated tin the recent past that it was licensing its massive portfolio of broadband IP that it generated as a part of its smartphone and telecommunications product development over that last few years but with the demise of that business, the company has been looking to monetize those IP assets to make up lost revenue.
CCC is a licensing entity (NPE) that that has had a relationship with Huawei in the past, most likely as a patent representative that takes care of licensing details and more importantly protects the IP from those it believes are infringing. Last year the company initiated a lawsuit against Xiaomi for other Huawei based IP and las also initiated IP claims against Apple (AAPL) and LG Electronics (066570.KS), some of which are based on the IP that Oppo was trying to get invalidated. Huawei has also used other NPE’s to represent its IP interests in Wi-Fi, on occasion against Xiaomi and Oppo, which were settled, however while Huawei is certainly less a competitor in the smartphone business, they don’t seem to hesitate to make sure they are getting paid by other smartphone brands, regardless of where they are located.
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