Nokia is currently suing two Chinese smartphone makers: OPPO (with a first Mannheim trial scheduled for next week) and Vivo. One key difference between the two is that OPPO also has a significant presence in Western Europe while Vivo's phone are sold in Asia for the most part. However, Vivo appears to have European aspirations as its sponsorship of UEFA's EURO soccer tournament shows.
On March 15, 2022, the Delhi High Court accepted (PDF) a couple of Nokia v. Vivo patent infringement actions. The next day the court noted (PDF) that one of the patents-in-suit is already being asserted in the same court against OPPO and reassigned it to the same judge (Ms. Justice Prathiba M. Singh). The overlapping patent-in-suit is Indian Patent No. 300066 (additional modulation information signaling for high speed downlink packet access; same patent family as EP2087626, which Nokia is asserting against OPPO in Mannheim).
Last week, IAM reported on a Chinese rate-setting case filed by Vivo against Nokia.
Also on Wednesday, CNN Indonesia reported on a case filed by Nokia against Vivo with the Central Jakatarta District Court over Indonesian Patent No. 000031184, which is from the same family as the aforementioned Indian Patent No. 300066 and European Patent EP2087626.
I'll try to find out more about this dispute as it unfolds. What's totally unclear so far is the history of licensing negotiations between the parties. This is the first high-profile patent assertion campaign against Vivo to my knowledge, suggesting that Vivo normally manages to work out license deals without any need for litigation.
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