Recently, Nokia has filed lawsuits against Chinese automaker Geely at the Mannheim Local Division and Munich Local Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), as well as at the Munich I Regional Court. The suits allege that Geely has used four of Nokia’s cellular communication technology patents in its vehicles without authorization.

The patents in question include:

• EP3799333 ("Allocation of Preamble Sequences"), asserted at the Mannheim Local Division;

• EP4090075 ("Method, Computer Program and Apparatus for Beam-Based Handover"), asserted at the Munich Local Division;

• EP3832976 ("Radio Bearer Handover in Radio Access") and EP3566488 ("Method, Computer Program and Apparatus for Beam-Based Handover"), both asserted at the Munich Regional Court.

Among these, the first patent is essential to both 4G and 5G standards, while the latter three are 5G-specific patents.

Notably, Geely is a significant patent holder in the electric vehicle (EV) sector. In 2022, it ranked among the world’s top 30 EV patent owners and disclosed 469 patents at the European Patent Office between 2019 and 2024. As one of China’s fastest-growing automakers, Geely reported a 53% surge in exports in 2024 compared to 2023. Moving forward, the company may face substantial intellectual property challenges in overseas automotive markets.

Beyond Geely, another prominent Chinese automaker facing cellular SEP litigation is BYD. Avanci licensors Sol IP and IP Bridge have initiated 4G SEP lawsuits against BYD in Germany, the UPC, and Brazil.