On May 25, 2016, Huawei filed lawsuits for patent infringement against Samsung in the United States and China, including District Court for the Northern District of California and Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court. In these lawsuits, Huawei seeks compensation for Samsung’s infringement of Huawei’s intellectual property, including valuable patents relating to cellular communications technology and software used by Samsung’s mobile phones.
As a major holder of standard essential patents relating to cellular networks, Huawei is committed to licensing these patents on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms, but it believes that it is entitled to reasonable compensation from firms that use its technology without such a license.
Ding Jianxing, President of Huawei’s Intellectual Property Rights Department, remarked, “Huawei believes that industry players should work together to push the industry forward through open, joint innovation. While respecting others’ patents, we will also protect our own. We have seen a large number of patent cross-licensing agreements signed in the industry to ensure legitimate use of technologies, as this is the basis for the healthy development of the smartphone industry. With such a belief, we have actively negotiated with other patent holders in the industry for cross-licensing over the years. Thus far, we have signed cross-licensing agreements with dozens of our competitors.”
Ding added, “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.”
As a leading ICT solutions and smart device provider and patent owner, Huawei invests heavily in research and development. In 2015 alone, Huawei invested CNY59.6 billion (US$9.2 billion), or 15% of its annual revenue, in the research and development of new technologies, new products, and wireless communications standards. Huawei’s substantial investment in R&D over the years has resulted in a large number of high-value patents.
According to the statistics published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in 2015 Huawei topped the list of international patent filers for the second consecutive year with 3,898 published PCT applications, or an additional 456 applications over the previous year. As of December 31, 2015, Huawei has been granted 50,377 patents around the world. These patents relate to LTE, operating systems, and user interface, which are highly valuable to smartphones.