USPTO research indicates healthy competition within 5G technologies

Research by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published in a report on ‘Patenting Activity among 5G Technology Developers’ shows that there is healthy competition in global 5G innovation, with no one company dominating the field.

 

This report, published in February 2022, examines overall patenting trends as well as trends in patent filings and value indicators in the four most-patented 5G-related technologies.

 

The report shows that six companies consistently filed more 5G-related patent applications in the last decade: Qualcomm, Ericsson, Huawei, LG, Nokia, Samsung. The report concludes that no single firm appeared to dominate 5G-related patenting during the period examined.

 

The report also examines a subset of applications filed in 2010-2021 in four critical 5G technologies:

• management of local wireless resources;
• multiple use of transmission path;
• radio transmission systems; and
• information error detection or error correction in transmission systems.

 

An examination of indicators that may collectively speak to patent portfolio competitiveness also did not reveal a consistent leader. For the period examined, Qualcomm’s patent claims had the greatest legal breadth, whereas LG trailed all others on this measure. Ericsson and Nokia ranked higher in terms of radicalness (i.e., indicating fewer prior art citations against an application during prosecution), and Qualcomm and Samsung most often led on the metric of technical relevance.

 

Drew Hirshfeld, Director of the USPTO commented “These patents support a vibrant digital economy that enables more citizens to benefit from the promise of 5G wireless communications networks."

 

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This briefing is for general information purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for legal advice relating to your particular circumstances. We can discuss specific issues and facts on an individual basis. Please note that the law may have changed since the day this was first published in March 2021.