Patent-pool operator Sisvel is expanding in China and preparing a new business unit for tailored licensing deals. In an interview with MLex, its CEO Mattia Fogliacco said Chinese firms are “the best in class” or on par in standard-essential patents, as the market gains ground in setting global technology standards.
China’s growing dominance in the technology industry is increasingly pulling the global market for patents underpinning cellular, Wi-Fi and other connectivity standards into its orbit.Sisvel, a patent-pool operator, is responding by expanding its presence in mainland China and by bringing more Chinese technology companies into its licensing programs.
Patent pools aggregate standard-essential patents from multiple owners and offer companies that implement them — such as phone makers or car manufacturers — a single license to standardized technologies, aiming to simplify access and reduce transaction costs.
“If you look at the SEPs stack in each technology, for most technologies, you really will find that China is either on par with the best in class, or actually is the best in class,” Mattia Fogliacco, Sisvel’s president and CEO, told MLex.
Founded in Italy, Sisvel runs licensing programs across technologies including Wi-Fi, cellular connectivity, Internet-of-Things, video codecs and digital broadcasting. The company recently opened a patent pool covering cellular technology used in payment terminals backed by companies including Huawei, LG Electronics and Nokia.
Sisvel opened an office in Hong Kong around 20 years ago, and last September opened one in Shenzhen — one of China’s leading technology hubs and home to giants such as Huawei, Tencent and ZTE.
Fogliacco said China’s importance lies not only in its manufacturing prowess, but also in its growing role in developing global technical standards.
“One parameter that I always look at very keenly is the amount of contributions that are made during the standardization process to try to understand who's the new kid on the block, or who's really relevant in every space,” he said. “And there you can see that the relevance of China is absolutely and constantly rising in recent years.”
The standardization process brings together companies, researchers and engineers to develop common technical specifications, which are then adopted globally to support the functioning of products ranging from smartphones to automation systems.
Data on Wi-Fi patent ownership shows that Huawei holds the largest portfolio of active and granted patent families across both Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 (see here). Other Chinese companies, such as ZTE and Xiaomi, are also gaining ground.
The broader ranking in a LexisNexis* report shows the landscape is still shared with established US and Asian players. These include Intel, Qualcomm and Apple stateside, and with Chinese companies increasingly strengthening their position across generations of connectivity standards.
The report also shows that disputes over Wi-Fi patents have risen by about 71 percent since 2020.
Fogliacco attributed the rise in disputes to a transition from a largely unlicensed environment to a more actively monetized one. As patent holders have started to seek returns on their portfolios and implementers face greater licensing exposure, tensions in negotiations have led to more frequent litigation.
At the same time, tensions over how licensing terms should be set have increasingly played out at the geopolitical level, particularly as Chinese courts have taken a more assertive role in determining global fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory rates, drawing scrutiny at the World Trade Organization.
China has also said it will withdraw measures that allowed its courts to prevent SEP holders from pursuing litigation in foreign courts, after a WTO ruling found the policy inconsistent with international rules (see here).
“Every change in the relevance of markets has an impact on our strategies,” Fogliacco said. He added that the growing importance of China across the technology sector is also reflected in the increasing engagement of its courts and their willingness to shape jurisprudence in this area.
But for Sisvel, he said the growing legal and geopolitical tensions have so far had limited practical impact on its operations, which are centered on facilitating licensing agreements, rather than on enforcing them through courts.
“There is a marginal impact at the moment for our patent-pooling operations, and our licensing operations of the patent pools,” he said. Courts should be seen as part of the broader negotiation process rather than a primary driver of outcomes, Fogliacco said. “I see the process in courts being an integral part of the negotiation. It’s a continuation to the negotiation.”
Looking ahead, Sisvel is seeking to expand into new technology areas and develop additional business models, as connectivity standards continue to evolve.
The company is exploring opportunities in fields such as battery and renewable technologies, supported by the recent hiring of a managing director for its Shenzhen office with experience in those sectors.
At the same time, Fogliacco said Sisvel intends to remain active in next-generation connectivity standards, including the development of 6G, and future iterations of Wi-Fi.
The company is also preparing to launch a new business unit focused on more bespoke licensing and monetization strategies, targeting situations where traditional large-scale patent pools may not be suitable. The unit is expected to work with partners and pursue more tailored agreements, keeping Sisvel’s core pooling activities separate.
Fogliacco said the initiative remains at an early stage. More details may emerge in the coming months, he said.
As the center of gravity in the SEP market continues to shift, he said the priority will be making licensing frameworks operate more smoothly across jurisdictions.
“There is going to be more and more interest toward transactional efficiency,” Fogliacco said.
* MLex is owned by LexisNexis.
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