Nokia, ASUS ink patent licensing deal: will also arbitrate terms

Context:

• Last week, Nokia revealed that it signed a patent license agreement with Acer, with the terms to be determined through arbitration (June 19, 2026 ip fray article). The deal covers the use of Nokia’s video coding technologies in Acer’s devices. This marked the second out of three disputes to be settled in its campaign against Acer, ASUS, and Hisense over video patent infringement. Litigation was filed in the Unified Patent Court (UPC), Germany, the U.S. (April 11, 2025 ip fray article), Brazil, and India (June 13, 2025 ip fray article). Both Acer and ASUS had then fought back with a UK FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing) complaint (June 12, 2025 LinkedIn post by ip fray). But, in January (January 23, 2026 ip fray article) and March (March 26, 2026 ip fray article) this year, the Munich I Regional Court entered injunctions against Acer and ASUS over two of the patents-in-suit. And, in another major win for Nokia, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales (EWCA) permanently stayed Acer and ASUS’s UK actions, after finding that Nokia had complied with its RAND obligations by offering Acer and Asus adjustable licenses (May 12, 2026 ip fray article).
• ASUS’s conduct in the U.S. was also recently under scrutiny by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director John A. Squires, after a petition for review by Nokia against a petition by ASUS for an inter partes review was thrown out (May 28, 2026 ip fray article). Mr. Squires noted that ASUS may have violated a Sotera stipulation, which is the next best thing to a safe harbor when requesting a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) IPR.

What’s new: Nokia has now settled with the final of the three companies targeted in its video patent enforcement campaign, Nokia’s Chief Licensing Officer, Susanna Martikainen, today revealed. ASUS and Nokia have signed a patent license agreement, agreeing to enter into binding arbitration to determine certain terms of the deal.

Direct impact: Just like its deal with Acer, the ASUS agreement means related patent litigations between the two companies will be paused or withdrawn. With the UK case permanently stayed, this applies to those in the UPC, Brazil, Germany, the U.S., and India.

Wider ramifications: This brings the saga against Acer, ASUS, and Hisense (which settled in January: January 8, 2026 ip fray article) to an end. It signals a major win for Nokia, which also inked a renewal multi-year, multi-technology patent cross-license agreement with Lenovo last week (June 18, 2026 ip fray article). Yesterday, Nokia also received positive news from the High Court of Justice for England & Wales (EWHC) in its video patent case with Warner Bros. and Paramount (June 24, 2026 ip fray article). While the parties settled in February, they agreed to a UK court-determined reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) license (February 26, 2026 ip fray article). Yesterday, the EWHC set confidential interim payments that Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount must make to Nokia pending the November 2026 rate-setting trial.