Huawei Culture Co Ltd. is accusing the South Korean giant Samsung of patent infringement in China and the United States. The Chinese company said it wants a “reasonable compensation” for patent infringement regarding 4G technology, used in Samsung devices.
Samsung is currently the world’s third largest smartphone manufacturer. Huawei has filed a lawsuit against the company for violating 12 patents. Four of them are related to mobile devices, while the others make reference to 4G networks.
The Chinese company has not requested the court to limit Samsung sales, according to spokesman Joe Kelly, who talked to reporters at The Associated Press (AP). By contrast, Samsung said it will review the complaint and “defend the company’s business interests.”
“We hope Samsung will… stop infringing our patents and get the necessary license from Huawei, and work together with Huawei to jointly drive the industry forward,” said Ding Jianxing, president of Huawei’s Intellectual Property Rights Department, according to Reuters.
Huawei is increasing worldwide sales
Huawei said it spent an estimated $9 billion on research and development during 2015. According to government data from China, it is the company that invests the most in research expenses in the country, said AP.
The new lawsuits were filed in the U.S. federal court in California and in Shenzhen, place of the Huawei’s headquarters. If Huawei wins, Samsung may have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars, said AP.
Most revenues obtained by Huawei come from telecommunication. By December 31, the company had registered 50,377 patents worldwide, said AP. By contrast, Samsung owns 110,145 patents worldwide.
During Q1 2016, Huawei increased its presence in foreign markets outside China, said the International Data Corporation in April. The company delivered 27.5 million units from January to March, most of them are entry-level devices.
Analysts expect that Huawei’s new devices such as the P9, Mate Series and Nexus 6 will help the company gain new market percentages.
Samsung to file a countersuit against Huawei
Ahn Seung-ho, an executive vice president of Samsung, said on Wednesday that the company is planning to make a countersuit. Samsung and affiliates “have earned billions” by using LTE technology owned by Huawei, said Huawei company.
Huawei is among the top clients of Samsung’s memory chips and displays, said the Korea Times. Samsung was reportedly notified of Huawei’s patent infringement in 2013. However, the Korean developer did not answer requests.
Analysts suggest that Huawei may be expecting to determine a cross-licensing agreement with Samsung. The latter would offer access to some of its patents. All Galaxy S devices sold from 2011 to 2016, have used patented technology owned by Huawei, including the Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy S7.
No other Chinese company has filed a lawsuit against Samsung before. Huawei was the tech company that registered more patents in 2015, as reported by the Korea Times.
Tech companies such as Ericsson, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent have allied with Huawei to define licensing agreements. The Chinese Company announced Monday it is currently working on creating secure 5G networks.
Source: The Associated Press