Huawei to sue Verizon over alleged patent infringements

Damien Wilde | Feb 6 2020 - 5:16 am PT

Huawei is set to launch legal proceedings against Verizon over alleged patent infringements.

The telecommunications and smartphone manufacturer is seeking compensation for supposed usage of its internally-developed technology in areas such as computer networking, download security, and video communications. Huawei is seeking ongoing royalty payments from Verizon for these infringements according to court documents filed in Texas’ Eastern and Western districts (via Reuters).

Verizon is yet to comment on this patent infringement dispute but in a statement, Huawei confirmed the firm is seeking compensation — although no firm figure has been shared as the firm does not have a breakdown of the patents’ alleged contribution to Verizon’s mobile services according to Reuters.

“Verizon’s products and services have benefited from patented technology that Huawei developed over many years of research and development,” Huawei’s Chief Legal Office said in a statement.

“Huawei is simply asking that Verizon respect Huawei’s investment in research and development by either paying for the use of our patents, or refraining from using them in its products and services.”

This dispute has been rumbling on since last year, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Huawei was demanding that Verizon pay licensing fees for more than 200 patents. The New York Times reported that the value of these patents amounted to more than $1 billion.

This time around, the Chinese company has decided to take action for 12 specific patents because it has considered the evidence for them was clearest and that the number was manageable for the court, according to Reuters.