Western consumers might think that the continuing competitive rivalry between Google, Apple and Amazon is heating up, but it certainly lacks the legal flare that the fight between South Korea’s Samsung and China’s Huawei has recently acquired.
BBC reported that Huawei has filed lawsuits in courts in both California and Shenzhen to try and recoup cellular communications software that it alleges are being used in Samsung phones without permission. Though no specific details on what patents may be under infringement were released, Ding Jianxing, intellectual property chief at Huawei, indicated that the entire case could be resolved if Samsung agreed to let his company license some of its software in return.
“Thus far, we have signed cross-licensing agreements with dozens of our competitors,” Ding said. “We hope Samsung will respect Huawei’s R&D investment and patents, stop infringing our patents and get the necessary license from Huawei and work together with Huawei to jointly drive the industry forward.”
A separate spokesperson told The Verge that the lawsuit filing was merely a procedural move made after the company became aware not only of Samsung’s use of its patents but also the lack of royalties paid to Huawei for the use of said tech. By all accounts, negotiations seemed to be ongoing between the two parties up until the announcement of the lawsuit, though that too may be a decision to place more pressure on the appropriate parties.
“In this instance, while we would always prefer to go the negotiating route, we have been compelled to go to the courts to protect our investment in R&D,” a spokesperson told The Verge.
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