Huawei issues seminal Wi-Fi 6 patent licence to Buffalo

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Huawei issues seminal Wi-Fi 6 patent licence to Buffalo

huawei.jpeg

Huawei has agreed its first-ever overseas licence for Wi-Fi 6 with Japanese company Buffalo, marking the maturity of the technology for broader deployment

Huawei has entered into a patent licence agreement with Japanese networking and storage company Buffalo for its Wi-Fi 6 technology, the Chinese telecoms company announced today.

The agreement is Huawei’s first-ever overseas, Wi-Fi 6-focused licence, which provides Buffalo with access to certain Wi-Fi 6 enabled products under Huawei’s portfolio of standard essential patents (SEPs).

“We have broader licence agreements covering both Wi-Fi 6 and legacy Wi-Fi products, but this agreement marks the emergence of Wi-Fi 6 as the dominant Wi-Fi technology,” said Alan Fan, global head of intellectual property at Huawei. 

The deal, signed in September, is important because it signifies the maturity of the technology for large-scale standalone deployment. With the licence in place, Buffalo will now focus on developing products specifically focused on Wi-Fi 6.

Until now, Huawei had licensed Wi-Fi 6 along with other products within its SEP family, on the basis that most countries had yet to equip themselves to fully embrace the technology.

“Different countries are at different stages of adopting and applying different generations of Wi-Fi technologies,” said Fan. “The licensing agreement with Buffalo indicates that Japan is leading the industry in terms of Wi-Fi 6 adoption and application.”

Huawei is in talks with other multinational businesses to license Wi-Fi 6, and expects that this latest agreement will lay the groundwork for further adoption and application of the technology.

According to Huawei, Wi-Fi 6 offers a faster data rate, increased capacity and lower latency and power consumption, which makes it suitable for densely populated areas such as shopping complexes, airports, stadiums and smart homes.

Huawei owns more than 120 Wi-Fi 6 SEPs. The company currently has 100,000 granted patents across the world, and 3,500 of those are related to Wi-Fi technology.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Partner Ranjini Acharya explains how her Federal Circuit debut resulted in her convincing the court to rule that machine learning technology was not patent-eligible
Paul Hastings and Smart & Biggar also won multiple awards, while Baker McKenzie picked up a significant prize
Burford Capital study finds that in-house lawyers have become more likely to monetise patents, but that their IP portfolios are still underutilised
Robert Reading and Faidon Zisis at Clarivate unpick some of the data surrounding music-related trademarks
China's latest IP litigation statistics and a high-profile hire by O'Melveny were also among the top talking points this week
David Aylen, who spent more than 20 years at Gowling WLG, has joined United Trademark and Patent Services as of counsel in the UAE
Europe is among the most lucrative legal markets for PE firms to bet on, but clients’ reactions will decide whether external investment drives success
Rulings of note covered pre-June 2023 infringements and jurisdiction over non-UPC states, while winners of Managing IP’s EMEA Awards acted in multiple cases
Jason Blair, a former special marks examiner, said Dykema’s Texas presence will help him build deeper connections with clients
Lee Curtis and Rachel Platts at HGF discuss the rise of the ‘intention economy’ and its impact on trademark law
Gift this article