In-depth Analysis of the Chongqing FRAND Rate Judgment in ZTE v. Samsung

WISECODE Take

The concurrent judgments in ZTE v. Samsung by courts in Chongqing, Germany, and the UK in May 2026 dispel the myth that global FRAND rate determinations must diverge wildly. The Chongqing First Intermediate People's Court and the German court determined highly consistent total licensing fees, indicating a growing global consensus on SEP rate determination. The Chongqing court established a 5G aggregate royalty burden (ARB) measurement framework, adopting a conservative premium coefficient of 13.83% to calculate a 5G ARB of 7.8% to 8.5%. By cross-validating the top-down and comparable license agreement approaches, it provides a precise judicial model for global communication patent pricing. This case only affects 5G standard-related equipment manufacturers; traditional manufacturing and software companies outside the telecom sector are unaffected. If your products involve 5G standards, we recommend using Zhidian's Patent Portfolio Health Check to clarify potential licensing risks. I offer two actionable recommendations. First, in SEP negotiations, enterprises should quantify technical premiums using economic tools like hedonic price regression models. Second, when signing licensing agreements, prevent terms from being dissected by future courts as benchmarks for comparable agreements. Patent rates have entered an era of precise measurement; mastering data-driven arguments is the key to negotiation.