[Digital Business Africa] – In its 2020 White Paper on Innovation and Intellectual Property, the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei presents the innovations and events that have marked Huawei in the field of intellectual property. This white paper was presented on March 16, 2021 at the "Innovation and Intellectual Property Prospects Forum in 2021 and Beyond" that Huawei organized at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen. Digital Business Africa presents these milestones.

1. In 1993, Huawei launched the C&C08, a large-scale digital exchange.
2. In 1994, Huawei applied for its first trademark ("華為").
3. In 1995, Huawei filed its first patent application in China. In the same year, Huawei filed six patent applications in China for different technical fields.
4. In 1995, Huawei established its Intellectual Property Department to improve the IP management and protection process, as well as its management system.
5. In 1997, Huawei launched its wireless GSM solutions.
6. In 1998, Huawei's first patent was granted in China.
7. In 1999, Huawei filed its first patent application in the United States, for the first time outside China, which helped expand the market for its products around the world.
8. In 1999, Huawei launched the OptiX 2500+, the industry's first Multi-Service Transmission Platform (MSTP), evolving the optical transport industry from Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) to the MSTP model.
9. In 2000, Huawei's first patent was granted in the United States.
10. In 2001, Huawei signed a patent licensing agreement with Qualcomm. From then on, Huawei undertook important cross-licensing negotiations with IP rights holders in the ICT sector. The company has entered into more than 100 patent license agreements with major global ICT companies in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea.
11. In 2001, Huawei sold Avansys Power, a subsidiary specializing in power supplies, to Emerson for 750 million USD. This transaction marks the first monetization of Huawei's R&D capabilities.
12. In 2002, Huawei signed its first patent license agreement with Ericsson in the field of wireless technologies.
13. In 2003, Huawei launched the MA5300, the first digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) built on Internet Protocol (IP) architecture.
14. In 2003, an IP dispute arose between Cisco and Huawei. The following year, the two parties resolved the litigation and filed a joint motion in a US court to end the lawsuit.
15. In 2003, Huawei and 3Com formed a joint venture. Huawei provided technology and R&D personnel, while 3Com invested USD 165 million. In 2006, Huawei sold its shares of the joint venture to 3Com for 882 million USD.
16. In 2004, Huawei launched the industry's first distributed base station and won a contract worth more than USD 25 million from Telfort, a Dutch operator. This transaction was Huawei's first real breakthrough in the European market.
17. In 2004, Huawei released the NE5000E core router, supporting cluster networking based on a future-oriented architecture. This product has since set the absolute standard for architectures in the industry and remains a flagship product today.
18. In 2006, Huawei launched the OptiX OSN 6800, the industry's first Optical Transport Network (OTN) equipment, driving transformation in the optical transport field.
19. In 2006, Huawei launched MA5600T, the industry's first platform to support fiber access and copper access. Compared to its peers, this product used the least power while providing the same capacity, enabling the industry to move towards greener access networks.
20. In 2007, Huawei and Symantec formed a joint venture, Huawei Symantec, to develop storage products.
21. In 2008, Huawei filed 1,737 patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), ranking first in the world for the first time.
22. In 2009, Huawei was named as one of the world's 500 most influential brands by World Brand Lab.
23. In 2009, Huawei won the IEEE Standards Association Corporate Award.
24. In 2009, Huawei, NTT DOCOMO, France Telecom (now part of Orange), the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), and VoiceAge jointly developed G.711.1, an extension for a widely used voice codec. As one of the core developers, Huawei has created a patent pool.
25. In 2010, Huawei sued ZTE, a European company, for patent and trademark infringement. In 2015, the decision rendered by the European Court of Justice established legal requirements for negotiations on essential patents (standard essential patents, or SEPs).
26. In 2011, Huawei established the 2012 Laboratories, an innovation cradle for Huawei researchers to explore platform technologies and the future of technologies.
27. In 2011, Huawei sued Motorola in the United States over an IP dispute. Upon resolution of this lawsuit, Motorola paid Huawei a fine and obtained permission to transfer Huawei's confidential information to Nokia Siemens Networks under an existing merger and acquisition agreement.
28. In 2013, Huawei licensed Teltronic, a European wireless equipment company, to use its essential wireless technology patents.
29. In 2014, Huawei launched its flagship smartphone, the Huawei Ascend Mate7.
30. In 2015, Huawei signed a patent license agreement with Apple, for the use of its technology essential patents
31. In 2016, Huawei and Samsung filed several patent infringement claims against each other in China and the United States. In 2019, the Samsung company reached an agreement with Huawei, to which it had to pay licensing fees.
32. In 2016, Huawei launched the P9 smartphone, the first phone with a Leica dual-lens camera, allowing users to capture both black and white and color images. The product has set a new standard in smartphone photography.
33. In 2017, Huawei was one of the top 3 Linux kernel contributors.
34. In 2019, Huawei was the second company with the most patents granted by the European Patent Office.
35. In 2020, Huawei sued Verizon in the United States, seeking compensation for patent infringement.
36. In 2020, Huawei joined the Open Invention Network to support the development of the Linux community.
37. In 2020, Huawei ranked third in the 2020 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, released by the European Commission

10% of Huawei's annual revenue in research and development

Huawei explains that its capacity for growth and prosperity is based on its substantial investments in R&D, aimed at finding innovations that meet the practical needs of their customers. The Chinese telecommunications giant says it invests more than 10% of its annual revenue in research and development.

Information given on March 16, 2021 at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen on the occasion of the "Forum on Innovation and the Prospects of Intellectual Property in 2021 and Beyond". Event during which Huawei presented its 2020 White Paper on Innovation and Intellectual Property.

Mr. Song Liuping, Chief Legal Officer of Huawei, estimates that the Chinese giant will receive approximately US$1.2-1.3 billion in revenue from patent licensing between 2019 and 2021. He announces that for each multi-mode 5G smartphone, Huawei will provide a reasonable percentage royalty on the sale price of the handset, as well as a royalty cap of US$2.5 per unit.

In addition, the Chinese group expects to receive between 1.2 and 1.3 billion dollars in royalties on its 5G licenses, capping the royalty at 2.5 dollars per device. "Huawei has been the largest technical contributor to 5G standards and further adheres to fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory principles in patent licensing," Ding said. "We want to drive 5G adoption by giving 5G implementers a more transparent cost structure."

By Digital Business Africa

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In three years, Huawei collects 1.3 billion US dollars in revenue from royalties on its licenses and patents