Samsung joins Sisvel Wi-Fi pool as licensee and licensor, settles litigation
Samsung Electronics has joined the Sisvel Wi-Fi Multimode patent pool as both a licensee and a licensor, covering Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 technologies. This agreement also settles ongoing patent litigation between Samsung and Wilus in the Eastern District of Texas.
Key Takeaways
- Samsung becomes the fifth company to act as both licensor and licensee in the pool, joining Huawei, Panasonic, Philips, and ZTE.
- The agreement officially terminates patent litigation against Samsung in the Eastern District of Texas brought by Wilus, a founding member of the Sisvel pool.
- Sisvel's Wi-Fi Multimode program, launched in January 2026, now counts major implementers including ASUS, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Microsoft, and Sony as licensees.
- The pool serves as the successor to Sisvel’s Wi-Fi 6 program, which secured agreements with 40 companies including Cisco, Netgear, and Acer over three years.
Why It Matters
Samsung's dual role as a major device manufacturer and a top-tier R&D contributor provides critical validation for the Wi-Fi Multimode pool. For the streaming ecosystem, this deal clarifies the licensing costs for the next generation of playback hardware, particularly as Wi-Fi 7 begins to support high-bandwidth 8K streaming and lower-latency cloud gaming. The settlement indicates a preference for consolidated pool licensing over individual bilateral litigation, which could accelerate the adoption of Wi-Fi 7 in consumer electronics. Watch for whether other major holdouts, such as Apple or LG, follow this precedent to resolve their own outstanding Wi-Fi 6 and 7 patent obligations.
Additional Context
The settlement between Samsung and Wilus marks the end of a legal battle that began in September 2024, when Wilus filed suit in the Eastern District of Texas alleging infringement of four Wi-Fi 6 patents (per RPX Corp, September 2024). The litigation had escalated by early 2026, with Wilus requesting the court to suspend its reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) licensing obligations due to Samsung's alleged negotiation tactics (per ip fray, April 2026). By joining the Sisvel pool, Samsung secures an efficient off-ramp from these proceedings while gaining access to a broader portfolio of nearly 2,000 patents declared essential to the 802.11ax and 802.11be standards. This move aligns with Samsung's broader strategy to lead wireless connectivity standards. While most competitors are currently focused on the Wi-Fi 7 rollout, Samsung has already submitted 35 technical contributions to the 802.11bn (Wi-Fi 8) working group (per GreyB, August 2024). Furthermore, Samsung remains the top U.S. patent grantee, receiving 7,054 grants in 2025 alone—an 11% year-over-year increase that accounts for roughly 2% of all U.S. patents issued (per IFI Claims, January 2026). The adoption of the Sisvel pool by market leaders like Samsung, Microsoft (which joined in June 2026), and Cisco suggests a shift toward transparency in the standard-essential patent (SEP) market. These agreements are timely, as Wi-Fi 7 devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and high-end routers from Netgear and TP-Link aim for a projected market reach of 2.1 billion units by 2028 (per Sisvel/Wi-Fi Alliance, May 2026). For streaming B2B leaders, these consolidated licensing frameworks reduce the risk of injunctions that could disrupt the hardware supply chain during a critical transition to next-generation wireless standards.
Read full article at finance.yahoo.com
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