The wireless industry is drowning in 5G patents

The number of patents in the 5G industry is growing by leaps and bounds, according to fresh numbers from patent-research firm LexisNexis IPlytics.

"The relevance of 5G technology has been drastically increasing across industries, resulting in more and more companies building 5G patent portfolios," wrote LexisNexis IPlytics in a new report. The firm noted that the number of 5G patent family owning companies has increased from 32 in 2015 – when 5G standards were first developed – to 131 in 2023. A family of patents is a set taken across multiple countries to protect a particular invention.

5G more complex than previous generations

"Compared to earlier generations 5G allows faster data speeds, lower latency, increased capacity such as massive MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output), improved spectral efficiency and introduces new concepts like network slicing or beamforming," the firm continued. "Consequently, 5G is a much more complex technology compared to the 3G or 4G generations."

The firm added that the number of declared 5G patent families has increased tenfold between 2017 and 2023, reaching over 60,000, which is almost 2.5 times more than the 24,000 patent families declared for 4G. 

Profits and lawsuits

The findings from LexisNexis IPlytics are noteworthy considering a growing number of companies are looking to profit from their 5G patent holdings. Huawei, for example, has recently expanded its patent licensing business in the pursuit of more revenue. The company said its patent-licensing operation totaled roughly $560 million last year. Separately, Avanci earlier this year said its new 5G patent pool for connected cars includes participation from the vast majority of top global 5G patent holders.

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And the promise of such patent revenues often drives companies to courtrooms. For example, Ericsson and Apple recently settled their own fight over 5G patents – a transaction that likely involves Apple funneling up to $400 million annually to Ericsson.

"The 5G SEPs (standard essential patents) licensing market is set to become one of the most lucrative, not just in terms of royalties but also for maintaining leadership of increasingly competitive industrial value chains. As a result, the 5G patent race is more competitive than ever, with geopolitical implications as countries vie for technical leadership in critical technologies," LexisNexis IPlytics wrote in its report.

5G patent leaders

LexisNexis IPlytics' report also offered a look at the leading companies and countries filing patents. 5G patent leadership has long been a topic of discussion because there is a distinct difference between owning lots of unnecessary patents and owning just a few essential patents. LexisNexis IPlytics said its analysis of the topic takes into account not only SEPs but also a "patent asset" ranking. 

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"A patent family is more valuable when other innovations build on the technology protected by this patent family and by the scope of protection that the ultimate owner considers appropriate," the firm explained.

At the top of LexisNexis IPlytics' rankings is China's Huawei, which the firm said was first in its overall assessment of patent values. Qualcomm, Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia followed, in that order. Apple came in at No. 12. 

The firm also ranked the top 5G-producing countries, finding that the US is the leading jurisdiction with over 28,000 granted 5G patent families, followed by China with about 26,000 and Europe with almost 15,000 patent families. "The US, Korea and China have maintained above-average portfolio strength compared to other regions," the firm wrote.

Finally, the firm pointed to a handful of technologies inside the 5G standard that are generating increasing interest among 5G patent owners. Those include Internet of things (IoT) services, vehicle-to-vehicle communications and smart factory offerings.

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For example, "the data shows that NB-IoT has the largest number of patent families with a sharp increase over the past 10 years to almost 20,000 declared patent families, followed by LTE-M and LTE-Cat 1," the firm wrote, noting that Huawei, Samsung, ZTE, Qualcomm and Nokia were among the leading patent holders for NB-IoT technologies.