InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[M6]

Huawei to sue Xiaomi over patent rights

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20141126000064&cid=1206


and the world turns....


Chinese telecommunication giants ZTE and Huawei have reportedly taken legal action against mobile phone makers Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo, accusing them of WCDMA infringement, according to Guangzhou's 21st Century Business Herald.

It was reported that the two companies' lawyers have sent legal notices to a number of domestic mobile phone manufacturers, though the two firms refused to confirm the move.

Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo said they have no idea about the matter.

Competition among domestic mobile phone makers has been heated and spans a range of areas, from pricing and distribution channels to branding and even patenting, an industry expert said.

Xiaomi had shipped 18 million smartphones during the third quarter of this year, making it the world's third-largest smartphone maker with a global market share of 5.3%, according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Xiaomi also overtook Samsung as the largest smartphone vendor in China during the second quarter.

In addition, OPPO has also surpassed Samsung as the largest 4G smartphone vendor in China in terms of shipments.

Huawei remained among the world's top three smartphone vendors during the first and second quarters, according to IDC data.

In addition to domestic smartphone makers, Samsung and Apple, which earned 90% of the profits in the market, have also been embroiled in scores of patent lawsuits between 2011 and 2012.

As shipments of domestic smartphones continue to climb, patent holders now have a good opportunity to boost their royalty revenue and curb competition by asserting their patent rights.

Patent holding is a potent tool in the tech product market but it also requires exorbitant investment in patent research and development, the report said.

In recent years, Huawei and ZTE have both gone big on patents. Huawei announced it would invest 33 billion yuan (US$5.38 billion) in technology research and development, accounting for 14% of its total revenue, according to the report.