Huawei Reaffirms Licensing Commitment Regarding Certain IEEE Standards (June 11, 2020)

Huawei hereby publicly reaffirms the licensing commitments it has previously made with respect to the IEEE 802.11 standards.

Since it submitted its first Letter of Assurance (“LOA”) with respect to the 802.11 standard in 2007, Huawei has been committed to license its Essential Patent Claims with respect to the 802.11 standards under Reasonable Rates in compliance with the version of the IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws that came into effect on May 1, 2007 (“2007 Policy”).

Because we believe the implications of the changes to the IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws that became effective on May 15, 2015 (“2015 Policy”) create unhelpful uncertainty, Huawei has thus far been not able to make licensing commitments under the 2015 Policy. Huawei has, however, previously announced publicly that, despite its decision not to provide licensing commitments under the 2015 Policy, it remains willing to license its Essential Patent Claims in accordance with the 2007 Policy. When the IEEE made available a “Limited LOA” in June 2019 that permitted patent holders to provide licensing commitments under the terms of the 2007 Policy with respect to projects commenced before May 15, 2015, Huawei did so in an effort to be as transparent as possible about its position. In sum, Huawei remains willing to license any essential patents it holds related to the 802.11 standard on RAND terms as that was understood under the 2007 Policy.

Huawei looks forward to continuing its relationship with IEEE and to promoting the widespread deployment of products compliant with IEEE standards.

Sincerely,

IP Department
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
11 June 2020

Annex: Letter of assurances in IEEE has been made by Huawei as follows:

1) LOAs in 2007

• 802.11n
• 802.11s
• 802.11u

2) LOAs in 2013

• 802.11i
• 802.11ac
• 802.11ah
• 802.11ai

3) LOAs in May 2019. The submission of these LOAs declining to make a licensing commitment under the 2015 Policy was accompanied with a public statement committing to adhere to the licensing of any Essential Patent Claims under the 2007 Policy.

• 802.11aj
• 802.11ax
• 802.11ay
• 802.11ba

4) LOAs in July 2019 utilizing the “Limited LOA” form made available by IEEE on June 13, 2019 permitting patent holders to make licensing commitments under the 2007 Policy.

• 802.11-1997, 802.11-1999, 802.11-2007, 802.11-2012, 802.11-2016
• 802.11aj
• 802.11ax