Chinese smartphone maker Huawei and BBK Electronics’ Chinese manufacturer Oppo have signed a global patent cross-licensing agreement, including essential cellular patents such as 5G.

As part of the deal, OnePlus’ parent company Oppo has acquired global rights to Huawei’s most sought-after mobile phone patents.

Huawei has been upward following severe sanctions from the US and UK. In the era of Donald Trump, the United States restricted the use of chips and other technology produced by Chinese companies in 2019, citing security risks and cooperation with the Chinese government.

Last year, Huawei announced it would seek to sell its patent portfolio to interested partners.

“After more than 20 years of continuous innovation, Huawei has several global high-value patent portfolios in the fields of 5G, Wi-Fi, and audio and video codecs”, Van Allen, head of Huawei’s intellectual property department, said in a press release.

Fan welcomed the deal with Oppo, saying: “The mutual recognition of the value of the intellectual property between companies is an important step towards a virtuous cycle that promotes high-value standard innovation and research.”

Feng said Oppo will always “advocate the establishment of a sustainable and healthy intellectual property ecosystem, where intellectual property licensing issues are resolved through friendly negotiations, and the value of each company’s patents is highly respected”.