Who is leading the 5G patent race?

IAM Media ^ | 12/28/2018 | Tim Pohlmann

[SeekAndFind]

The long-term vision is that 5G will lead to the invention of thousands of new products, technologies and services, increase productivity and allow for new industries to emerge. A global 5G network would unify mobile communication and connect individuals or devices to everything through the Internet of Things (IoT). 5G technology can connect vehicles, ships, buildings, meters, machines and other items with electronics, software, sensors and the Cloud, while embedded 5G technology would allow machines to exchange information and integrate computer-based systems in the physical world. In recent years 3G and 4G patent owners have controlled the way in which mobile technologies have been used in the smartphone industry. Therefore, 5G patent owners will likely become technology and market leaders by enabling 5G connectivity in various markets. Using the database and analytics of the IPlytics platform tool, Table 1 illustrates the increasing number of 5G SEPs that have been declared over the past five years – 5G SEPs are the patents that any company will have to use when implementing a standardised 5G technology.

Figure 1. Annual number of 5G SEPs being declared

While the implementation of 3G and 4G mainly concerned smartphone industry players, 5G will enable connectivity in the entire physical world through the IoT. In the future, any sector with some reliance on connectivity (eg, transport, energy, manufacturing, healthcare and entertainment) will make use of 5G and therefore use 5G SEPs. Successful 3G and 4G patent licensing programmes have demonstrated that income from patent royalties can be substantial; the target market for 5G patent licensing will be much larger than 3G and 4G since 5G patents will be required outside of the smartphone sector. Using the IPlytics platform tool, Table 2 illustrates the top 10 patent owners of 5G SEPs. The South Korean companies Samsung and LG, the Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, the US companies Qualcomm, Intel and Interdigital, the European companies Ericsson and Nokia and the Japanese company Sharp are the major 5G patent holders.

Figure 2. Top 5G SEP owners

The automotive industry will most likely be one of the first to become reliant on 5G technology, connecting vehicles to other vehicles, roadsides, traffic lights, buildings and the Internet to process data across cars or in the cloud. Table 3 identifies 5G SEPs that relate to the connectivity of cars and automobiles. As the table shows, the number of 5G patent registrations has increased rapidly in recent years.

Figure 3. Annual number of 5G SEP registrations related to the automotive sector

The interconnectivity of different systems and communication across multiple devices relies on a common specification of the 5G standard. Due to the market potential of 5G, it is worth looking at the companies that are actively involved in the development of the 5G standard. The 5G standard is developed and adapted at international meetings where companies present and submit technical contributions. Using the IPlytics platform tool, Table 4 shows the top companies that have made technical contributions to 5G technology.

Figure 4. Top companies making technical contribution to the 5G standard

Another way of measuring involvement and investment in the development of the 5G standard is the attendance of engineers at the standards-setting meetings. Attendance at such meetings reflects the investment a company is making to developing the 5G technology, as companies send highly skilled technical engineers who commit their time to prepare, travel and discuss the latest technological developments. Using the IPlytics platform tool, Table 5 illustrates the number of employees per company who have been attending 5G standard setting meetings.

Figure 5. Top attendance at 5G meetings

The licensing of 5G SEPs looks set to become a major trend not only for the smartphone industry but for any manufacturing sector where connectivity is important. Senior patent managers and patent directors involved in 5G patents should consider the following:

• Future technologies involving connectivity will increasingly rely on patented technology standards such as 5G.
• The number of 5G SEPs is constantly rising – patent directors should start to consider royalty costs and appropriate security payments.
• Patent directors should not only consider information retrieved from patent data, but also monitor and consider other data concerning standardisation, such as technical contributions and meeting attendance.
• Senior patent managers must understand the dynamic nature of the SEP market, where patent assertion entities often acquire patent portfolios to assert extensive royalty payments.

Manufacturers should pursue a common strategy for patenting and standardisation to ensure that they are fully engaged in the development of future technology.

[SeekAndFind]

Before the new technology becomes a reality for consumers, two transitions need to take place.

1) Mobile operators have to upgrade their networks with 5G gear made by the likes of Huawei and ZTE of China, Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia. And;

2) Phone makers need to make handsets with built-in 5G radios ready to hook up to networks.

Qualcomm is the dominant player in smartphone communications chips, making half of all core baseband radio chips in smartphones. It is one of the last big U.S. technology companies with a major role in mobile communications hardware.

Most other baseband chips come from Asia: MediaTek of Taiwan holds about one quarter of the market, while Samsung Electronics and Huawei -— two big smartphone makers - develop chips for their own devices. Huawei does through a subsidiary known as HiSilicon.

Its dominant position in 5G comes from its mastery of two areas:

1) Getting its patents adopted in what are known as standards and then

2) Selling the chip designs that work with those standards.

The standards are set by a global body to ensure all phones work across different mobile networks, and whoever’s essential patents end up making it into the standard stands to reap huge royalty licensing revenue streams.

Qualcomm has landed a number of these foundational patents, which means that both handset makers and telecommunications gear makers will have to pay it licensing fees. It dominated standards setting in 3G and 4G wireless and looks set to top the list of patent holders heading into the 5G cycle.

[jacknhoo]

Check this out:

1. US detains Huawei CFO in Canada, arrests Chinese intelligence officer Yanjun Xu in Belgium, extradites to US. China hits US Intel providers. Google/China Dragonfly OP fails after POTUS interference, China attack on CenturyLink 911 services, possibly DOD Dark Fiber services?

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1078610531399811077.html

[mrsmith]

That’s one scary read!

“Everything’s watching me” won’t be a phrase uttered by paranoriacs in the future.

[Dutch Boy]

That link talks about corruption with the Lippo Group. That’s a blast from the past. The Lippo Group was tied to the Clintons in the 1990s. Odd how things seem to link together.

[SunkenCiv]

It's the "Monkeys and Typewriters" approach, or less potentially offensive "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach. Thanks SeekAndFind.

[DUMBGRUNT]

5G SEPs are the patents that any company will have to use when implementing a standardised 5G technology.

OK, but what is "SEP"?

[vette6387]

““Everything’s watching me” won’t be a phrase uttered by paranoriacs in the future.”

Particularly when China is Big Brother! What is shocking is how far behind it appears American companies are in this race.

[vette6387]

“OK, but what is “SEP”? “

Just looked it up “System Enabling Patent!”

[SeekAndFind]

RE: OK, but what is “SEP”?

“SEP” — Standard-Essential Patent

SEPs play an important role in standardisation, as they provide incentives for companies to develop technologies for standards and to contribute to standardisation, which involves costly private investment for public benefit. Further, patent holders will have an interest in improving existing standards if they can recoup the costs through SEP royalty fees; successful 3G and 4G licensing programmes have proven that SEP royalties are highly lucrative. Moreover, various SEP-related litigation cases indicate that SEP ownership controls how mobile technologies are used.

In recent years, the number of 5G-related SEPs has increased sharply. However, only a few companies have declared that they own such patents and Nokia and ZTE are among those which are yet to do so.

[mrsmith]

All that concerns me ...

Will this be a spectrum hog?
What’s the opinion on that?

Wiki: “5G will use spectrum in the existing LTE frequency range (600 MHz to 6 GHz) and also in millimeter wave(mmWave) bands (24–86 GHz). “
Sounds like a lot.

[SeekAndFind]

Source

Table 2: Estimated 5G patent portfolios 

Applicant/assignee	5G SEP family share	Market coverage	Citation relevance
Qualcomm	8.6%	1.43	0.74
Huawei	7.92%	1.43	0.56
LG Electronics	7.38%	1.34	2.63
Ericsson	6.74%	1.23	0.66
Samsung	5.77%	1.31	0.95
ZTE	4.1%	1.45	0.62
Nokia	3.48%	1.23	1.43
Intel	3.04%	1.52	0.66
NTT DOCOMO	2.61%	1.46	0.93
Alcatel-Lucent (acquired by Nokia)	2.06%	1.28	1.57
NEC	1.91%	1.39	0.72
Sony Corporation	1.75%	1.47	1.39
ETRI	1.7%	0.98	0.79
Sharp	1.69%	1.43	0.9
Panasonic	1.47%	1.46	1.14
BlackBerry Limited	1.29%	1.21	1.37
Apple	1.12%	1.24	0.96
InterDigital	1.08%	1.61	2.43
MediaTek	0.79%	1.31	1.21
Motorola	0.71%	1.28	0.99

Table 2 lists the top 20 patent portfolio shares of 5G SEP owners, estimating that Qualcomm, Huawei, LG Electronics, Ericsson and Samsung own the largest 5G SEP portfolios. In comparison to the technical contribution and the meeting attendance data (see part one), companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, Sharp, Panasonic, BlackBerry, Apple and InterDigital appear in the top 20 patent owners, despite not being among the strongest standards contributors.

The market coverage indicator estimates the patent family size by counting each country of a patent family divided by the country’s gross domestic product. The count is normalised and compared to industry averages (using IPC or CPC, year and country). Table 2 shows that most 5G patent portfolios have extensive international coverage (a score higher than one is above average), with only ETRI showing a more localised portfolio.

The citation relevance indicator counts the normalised number of received patent citations (not counting self-citations). LG Electronics, InterDigital, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia scored highest, indicating that they own valuable patent portfolios.

The data provides a first glimpse of the 5G patent landscape. It will be exciting to monitor which company will become the strongest IP owner for 5G essential technologies over the coming years.

[Trumpet 1]

Gee! Talk about a universal spy network. He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake. You had better be good for goodness sake. Enslavement of the connected human race. And the Chinese are leading the way. Just pay your taxes and never stray from the official party line.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Just looked it up “System Enabling Patent!”

Thank you.
I put “SEP” into google and it was, ‘Simplified Employee Pension, as far as I could see...

I like to know what is behind the acronym.

[Berlin_Freeper]

I think some parts of Germany don’t have 3G yet.

[Berlin_Freeper]

https://www.nperf.com/en/map/DE/-/68.Deutsche-Telekom/signal/?ll=51.42661449707482&lg=10.590820312500002&zoom=6

[sauropod]

I really detest it when acronyms aren’t defined.

WTH is an ‘SEP’?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: I think some parts of Germany don’t have 3G yet.

How can that be? Germany is supposed to be one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world...

[Berlin_Freeper]

Too many foreigners?

[thinden]

That link talks about corruption with the Lippo Group. That’s a blast from the past. The Lippo Group was tied to the Clintons in the 1990s. Odd how things seem to link together.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wary inkterestink

Where is mochtar hanging these days?