Hewlett-Packard has settled its wifi patent dispute with tech giant Huawei by agreeing to license some of the Chinese firm’s technologies.

“Huawei is pleased to reach this patent cross-licensing agreement with HP,” said Alan Fan, Huawei’s chief intellectual property officer. “This agreement is a strong testament to Huawei’s persistent independent innovation in cutting-edge fields in information and communications technology. Through patent licensing, Huawei shares its innovation with the industry, particularly in the area of standardised technologies, which brings leading technological experiences to consumers worldwide.”

However, a statement from HP (www.hp.com) stressed: “Huawei is not a supplier to HP nor is HP a supplier to Huawei. HP is not incorporating any Huawei components or technology into HP products. The agreement is not a strategic partnership, nor a commercial alliance, nor a supply agreement, nor any other form of collaboration.”

The reality, said the statement, was Huawei owned a significant portfolio of wifi patents.

“They sued HP over use of those patents, seeking remedies including prohibiting sales of affected products,” it said. “HP was forced to either license or litigate with the risk of limiting our ability to serve our customers. Given that risk, HP had no other choice but to resolve the dispute through a patent licence.”

The statement said this was “an all-too-common issue” facing American technology companies. “When standard-essential patent owners like Huawei sue companies with standards-compliant products, American companies often have no choice but to enter into licences in exchange for the ability to continue serving customers,” it said.

Steven Geiszler, who represented Huawei in the negotiations, said: “This is another successful licensing of Huawei patents, particularly in the area of standardised wifi technologies, while obtaining valuable reciprocal patent rights from HP. I appreciate the professionalism and courteousness shown by HP’s negotiation team during this project.”

Wifi has become one of the most widely used wireless technologies in the world, connecting homes, schools, hospitals, offices and public spaces. Each generation of the standard is developed openly, drawing on technical contributions from companies across the industry, and is then made broadly available to implementers.

Although lacking the speed and throughput of newer generations, Wifi 4 and 5 are still widely used, providing reliable networking for less demanding applications. High speed, large capacity and lower energy consumption enable Wifi 6 to deliver multiple high-definition video streaming, gaming and AR and VR services alongside legacy broadband and IoT devices such as laptops, refrigerators, cameras, doorbells, thermostats and lightbulbs, all with a single wireless router.

Wifi 7, building on Wifi 6, delivers higher throughput, lower latency and more reliable wifi connectivity. These enhancements enable a smooth experience for 8K video, gaming, AR, VR, remote work, online video conferencing and cloud computing.

“Together, these advances and applications have made reliable wireless connectivity part of the basic infrastructure of everyday life, supporting remote healthcare, digital education, and more energy-efficient homes and workplaces,” said a Huawei (www.huawei.com) statement. “Huawei has played a significant role in contributing to the development of wifi technologies over successive generations and makes the resulting technologies available publicly, so that innovation created in one place can benefit users everywhere.”