Point-of-sale (POS) devices are one of the various categories of the Internet of Things (IoT). At the beginning of the month, Sisvel launched the first-ever POS patent pool, covering 2G to 5G cellular telecommunications standards, with three licensors already onboard: Huawei, Nokia, and LG Electronics (April 1, 2026 ip fray article). On Friday, it announced that a further three licensors have come on board since: BlackBerry (as we noted in this article: April 10, 2026 ip fray article), JVCKENWOOD, and SK Telecom.
POS devices play an increasingly “crucial” role in the cashless economy, and Huawei is “pleased” to make its relevant standard-essential patents (SEPs) available to the POS industry through Sisvel, Emil Zhang, who heads up Huawei’s Strategic Planning & Key Projects Department, recently told ip fray in an exclusive interview.
Expanding on why Huawei has become such a major contributor to patent pools in general, Mr. Zhang also discussed its interim license case against TP-Link in the UK and the role that China currently plays in the global patent pool administrator landscape.
Huawei has been a huge contributor to patent pools across several industries for some time now, and it is one of the only major SEP owners that is involved in all four of the world’s biggest patent pool administrators’ programs. Historically, it has had a track record of successful cooperation with Sisvel, including being one of the founding members of Sisvel’s Wi-Fi program alongside the likes of Philips, Panasonic, and Wilus in 2022 (July 19, 2022 Sisvel press release). The company also licenses its portfolio through Access Advance’s HEVC and VVC programs, as well as Avanci’s 4G and 5G Vehicle platforms.
Mr. Zhang emphasizes that Huawei’s high rate of pool participation is because it wants the industry to have “legal certainty”, and he strongly believes that creating programmes for industries such as the POS market, which are fragmented, will ultimately “fix” all that “uncertainty”.
He points to Sisvel’s Wi-Fi pool as an example of how all areas can be “workable”. The programme, which now offers access to SEPs owned by 10 different WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 technology owners, has now closed agreements with nearly 40 companies, including Acer, Netgear, Cisco, HP, and, most recently, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE: April 8, 2026 ip fray article). Some of the deals were reached through enforcement, but some, including with HPE, were reached amicably.
Diversifying licensing strategies
The company is, of course, still an avid bilateral licensor, with its most recent major deal struck with MediaTek back in October (October 9, 2025 ip fray article). It is also currently enforcing its patents against some licensees, such as Disney (March 10, 2026 ip fray article) and Meta (March 12, 2026 ip fray article), in the video codec SEP space.
But, ultimately, Mr. Zhang believes that in some of the more critical verticals, pools can be a more efficient, one-stop shop that both sides of the table can benefit from.
Huawei is not the only company diversifying its licensing strategy. Nokia, which historically has been more of a bilateral licensor, was also one of the founding members of Sisvel’s new POS program. Interestingly, Nokia has already previously struck licensing deals with all major Western players, such as Verifone (August 14, 2024 LinkedIn post and article by ip fray), and some in China (September 23, 2024 ip fray article). Yet despite this success, it has decided to join Sisvel’s POS pool.
TP-Link case in the UK
Opting for patent pools also saves the courts’ time, Mr. Zhang notes, as he points to Huawei’s ongoing case against TP-Link in the High Court of Justice for England & Wales (EWHC). In that case, it was TP-Link that had initially sought a FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing) action over Wi-Fi royalty rates against Huawei (September 8, 2025 ip fray article), but it was Huawei who became the first SEP holder to be granted a UK interim-license ruling earlier this year (February 5, 2026 ip fray article). “Ultimately, we do not want to bother the UK courts,” he comments, adding:
“It is more efficient to enter into a license without litigation, either through a patent pool or through a bilateral license. When necessary, it is also helpful for courts to shed light on license terms and conditions, for example, providing an interim license for the parties to further contemplate the FRAND license to be entered into.”
The Chinese are not “outliers” in SEPs
For some time now, the Chinese government has been encouraging domestic players to monetize their IP. In 2024, it was revealed that the government of Shanghai was offering a one-off subsidy of 500,000 yuan ($69,000) to companies for the creation of local SEP pools. The subsidy scheme has been on offer every year since 2021, and joins others in the cities of Qingdao, Xiamen, Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Zhejiang.
We also recently discovered that the government was reportedly promoting a “patent pool” named the “China All-Solid-State Battery Collaborative Innovation Platform” involving major companies such as CATL, BYD, and Chery Automobile (April 6, 2026 The CHOSUN Daily article).
These efforts have been growing for a couple of years now, Mr. Zhang acknowledges, but such efforts may be an alternative to providing solutions among various players and providing business certainties from a different angle.
That said, the Chinese are not “outliers” to the international standards ecosystem, he notes, adding:
“So, if there are good Chinese administrators who can fulfil licensors and licensees’ needs or concerns, then why not have them do so?”
He refers to the world’s four leading patent pool administrators, which did not reach where they are overnight, but through proving themselves through successful licensing deals and addressing industry concerns while compensating licensors’ innovations year after year. “It all takes time,” Mr. Zhang says, concluding with:
“I don’t think it will be a foreign versus Chinese entity issue. I think the question is more: who will be the most suitable entities to solve all the problems?”