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Huawei sues Samsung on patent infringement

By Zhu Shenshen | May 25, 2016, Wednesday | Online Edition

Huawei Technologies has sued Samsung, the world’s biggest smartphone vendor, on infringement of smartphone patents, the first intellectual property rights case by a Chinese firm against top global brands.

The case marked the rise of Chinese smartphone vendors, which not only obtained more market shares but started to own core technologies, industry insiders said.

China is the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturing base but it used to be portrayed as a hub of copycat or Shanzhai models, lack of innovation and self-owned technologies.

Huawei has filed lawsuits in the United States and China against Samsung, seeking compensation for unlicensed use of cellular communications technology and software in its models.

“We hope Samsung will respect Huawei's research and development investment and patents, stop infringing our patents and get the necessary license from Huawei,” Ding Jianxing, President of Huawei's Intellectual Property Rights Department, said in a statement. ”While respecting others' patents, we will also protect our own.”

But Huawei didn’t mention the detailed figures of financial penalty demand.

In response, Samsung China said “we will thoroughly review the complaint and take appropriate action to defend Samsung’s business interests.”

“Chinese smartphone vendors should care more on technology innovation and research rather than on various marketing methods,” said Kevin Wang, an IHS analyst, after hearing the case.

Huawei invested heavily in R&D. In 2015, Huawei invested 59.6 billion yuan (US$9.2 billion), or 15 percent of its annual revenue, on the sector. By 2015, Huawei was granted 50,377 patents around the world covering 4G, operating systems and user interface in smartphones.

Samsung still took the leading market position with 23.2 percent market shares in the first quarter, followed by Apple’s 14.8 percent, Huawei’s 8.3 percent, Oppo’s 4.6 percent and Xiaomi’s 4.3 percent, according to Gartner, a US-based research firm.

Among top five brands, Chinese brands took a combined 17-percent market share in the quarter, compared with 11 percent shares a year ago.

Huawei and ZTE have strong telecommunications technology background on equipment including mobile base stations, which brings them tech advantage compared with other brands, Gartner said in a previous interview.

Huawei has a number of patent cross-licensing agreements signed in the industry to ensure legitimate use of technologies, including Apple Inc, industry insiders said.

 

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