On January 4, 2025, Luxembourg-based patent management company Sisvel officially announcing that US computer networking company NETGEAR（Nasdaq Ticker symbol：NTGR）has taken a Wi-Fi 6 pool license from Sisvel, Europe’s largest and longest-established patent pool operator.

The announcement said that the agreement resolves all Wi-Fi-related litigation between NETGEAR and Huawei. NETGEAR is the latest addition to a list of over 20 companies that are licensees to the Sisvel Wi-Fi 6 pool. In August, computer hardware and electronics company Acer also signed up.

In addition to Huawei, another major licensor in the patent pool, South Korea's Wilus, also filed a Wi Fi 6 patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung in April in 2024, which should also be driving Samsung to join the patent pool as soon as possible.

Otherwise, as early as 2020, iPEL, which acquired patents from Huawei, actually used the relevant patents to take various forms to sue NETGEAR in China, including administrative rulings and court prosecutions. Another company, Dunjun, which also acquired patents from Huawei, sued NETGEAR during this period. Besides, Huawei itself sued NETGEAR in China, Germany and the Unified Patent Court.

However, NETGEA's delay and its countersuit against Huawei in the US court actually is the way of delaying the relevant licensing process, which did not finally turn around until Huawei obtained an injunction in Germany and an anti-injunction from the Unified Patent Court, courts in Germany and China.

What can also be fully demonstrated is that an injunction is the best way to deal with malicious delays and reverse hijacking. Once the commodities involved in the lawsuit are likely to be banned from sale, it will dramatically speed up the negotiation progress of both parties.

From Tencent

January 4th, 2025