In a bid to demonstrate the importance it puts into innovation and R&D, Huawei Technologies Co has announced that it will charge a reasonable royalty fee to 5G mobile phones for access to its wireless 5G patents.
The announcement was made during the release of a white paper titled Respecting and Protecting Intellectual Property: The Foundation of Innovation - its second such publication in recent years.
The company expects it will receive about $1.2 to $1.3 billion in revenue from patent licensing between 2019 and 2021. However, how much revenue would stem from 5G patents was not specified.
Jason Ding, Head of Huawei's Intellectual Property Rights Department, said, "Innovation has been at the core of Huawei's business since the company was founded. Our 2020 white paper lists the number of patent applications Huawei filed, or our R&D and innovation activities, in the late 90s and early 2000s." He also stated, "Huawei's worldwide patent applications were on par with other industry leaders in the early 2000s, and Huawei's success today is a result of its long-term investment in innovation and R&D."
He noted that for every multi-mode 5G smartphone, Huawei will provide a reasonable percentage royalty rate of the handset selling price, and a per-unit royalty cap at US$2.5.
"Huawei has been the largest technical contributor to 5G standards, and follows fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) principles when it comes to patent licensing. We hope that the royalty rate we announced today will increase 5G adoption by giving 5G implementers a more transparent cost structure that will inform their investment decisions moving forward," he added.
Huawei and other China-based firms have been termed as national security threats by the US and allege them of IP manipulation misconducts. Huawei is the largest technical contributor to global 5G standards.
Huawei has also launched a new patent mini-site on its website, with patents organized into different portfolios which will be regularly updated to keep the industry informed of the company's latest innovations.
