Context: Nokia’s Chief Licensing Officer for Wireless Technologies, Susanna Martikainen, in June said the company believed 2025 would be a “turning point” for automotive licensing in China (June 9, 2025 ip fray article). “Either more Chinese automotive companies will sign licences, or there will be more litigation by patent holders,” she wrote at the time. Nokia then made significant progress, and announced during Nokia’s Capital Markets Day 2025 in November that the company had so far inked four patent license agreements with Chinese automakers (November 19, 2025 ip fray article). Patrik Hammarén, President of Nokia Technologies, said on the day that the company is ahead of its peers in all these programs, opening up new markets with industry-first agreements. In December, Nokia also announced it had signed a royalty-bearing patent license agreement with Stellantis (manufacturer of Fiat, Peugeot, Jeep, Alfa Romeo) covering the use of its Wireless LAN technologies in Stellantis’ vehicles, marking its eighth WLAN deal with a major automaker (December 11, 2025 ip fray article).
What’s new: Nokia has signed another bilateral patent license agreement with a leading Chinese automaker, Ms. Martikainen announced in a blog post today (January 20, 2026 Nokia blog post). The agreement covers the use of Nokia’s cellular technologies from 2G to 5G, as well as its essential Wi-Fi technologies, in the unknown Chinese automaker’s connected vehicles.
Direct impact: The deal is an “important milestone” for Nokia, Ms. Martikainen noted today. The company has now signed license agreements with five Chinese automakers, which reflects the increased respect shown by Chinese automakers for Nokia’s intellectual property rights, she wrote. “I would like to again extend my gratitude to our Chinese automotive licensees for their professionalism and constructive spirit during our negotiations,” she added.
Wider ramifications: While Nokia has signed with five unknown Chinese automakers, its ongoing litigation against fellow Chinese car manufacturer Geely in Germany and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) continues (July 22, 2025 ip fray article). The dispute was filed by Nokia in the UPC’s Mannheim Local Division (LD) and Munich LD, as well as the Munich I Regional Court, over the unauthorized use of four patents related to its cellular technologies in vehicles in July, and Geely filed a defence statement in the UPC last week. Ms. Martikainen also emphasized today that Nokia encourages Chinese automakers who have not yet entered into an agreement to “accept their responsibilities as implementers of patented technologies”. She added:
“Because companies who do not play by the rules should not have an unfair advantage over those who do. And if necessary, we are prepared to litigate to ensure a level playing field for implementers of our technologies.”