A month ago, Nokia announced a significant milestone, stating that it had reached 7,000 patent families deemed essential to 5G technology. Today, Patently is pleased to verify this claim through independent evaluation, further reinforcing Nokia’s status as a leading innovator in the 5G sector.
Following a comprehensive independent assessment, Patently has confirmed that Nokia has declared over 6,300 published standard-essential patent (SEP) families to 5G specifications. Additionally, more than 700 unpublished patent families, all filed within the first 18 months of their initial submission, have been recognised as essential to 5G, demonstrating the company’s ongoing contributions to the technology.
These figures pertain solely to 5G-related patents and do not account for those declared solely to previous generations of cellular technology. In addition to its 5G advancements, Nokia has declared over 1,700 patent families essential to earlier mobile technologies, underscoring its long-standing influence in the telecommunications sector.
A Rigorous Evaluation Process Covering Nokia’s Entire Portfolio
Patently’s verification process included all Nokia subsidiaries, such as Alcatel Lucent, ensuring a comprehensive and accurate assessment. Nokia is recognised as the Ultimate Declarant, just as it is acknowledged as the Ultimate Owner of patent families held under its various entities.
Built upon its Six Sigma Declarations and True Essentiality framework, Patently’s methodology ensures an exceptionally high level of accuracy and reliability in declaration matching. Striving for 99.9997% defect-free declaration verification, Patently employs a process that combines expert evaluation with sophisticated data analytics, making its approach unmatched in precision.
The verification process includes an extensive cross-referencing of Nokia’s official statements and licensing declarations from ETSI special reports, using Patently’s advanced patent family processing system. This method enables precise standard-essential patent (SEP) family counts and accounts for variations in declaration formats, unpublished patents, and legal ownership transitions across multiple jurisdictions.
Through this rigorous data analysis, Patently has confirmed with a high level of accuracy the alignment of Nokia’s patent portfolio with the 5G standard-essential landscape.
Recognition of Nokia’s Contribution to 5G Innovation
Andrew Samm, Director at Patently, stated:
“Patently extends its sincere congratulations to the entire team for their dedication and expertise in executing this rigorous verification process. Their unwavering commitment to precision and transparency has been instrumental in confirming Nokia’s contributions to 5G. The team’s diligence in handling complex patent data and refining the matching framework exemplifies the highest standards in patent data analysis.”
“This independent confirmation reaffirms Nokia’s leadership in 5G innovation and underscores its extensive contributions to the foundational technology that powers next-generation connectivity worldwide.”
For further details on Patently’s methodology and its 2025 report on the world’s leading 5G patent holders, visit patently.com/patently100.
