InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[dndodd]

EU court adviser calls for preconditions in Huawei, ZTE patent row
Europe 20.11.2014
By Our DPA-Correspondent and Europe Online auf Facebook posten Auf Twitter posten
Luxembourg (dpa) - Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei should jump through a number of legal hoops before bringing action against compatriot ZTE over patents, an advisor to the European Union's top court recommended Thursday.

The European Court of Justice has been asked to wade into the telecom industry's long-running patent wars by a German regional court, which is handling a case involving the two Chinese companies.

At issue are so-called standard essential patents, which firms must license to others in a "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" way because of their importance to the industry. They cover standards for wireless communication, video compression and wireless networks.

Huawei holds such a patent and sought an injunction in Germany against ZTE after the two sides failed to reach a licensing agreement for products that ZTE sells in the country.

But the company argued that it is willing to negotiate a license and that Huawei was using legal action to abuse its dominant position in the market, a move that would violate EU competition rules.

Advocate General Melchior Wathelet argued on Thursday that the holder of a standard essential patent should go through a series of steps before being allowed to seek an injunction.

He is one of nine advocate generals who provide legal opinions to the Luxembourg-based court. The judges generally follow the advice.

Wathelet said that the patent holder should have to present an alleged patent offender with a written license offer and go through a cycle of counter-offers before being able to take legal action.

The offending company's conduct would also have to be "purely tactical and / or dilatory and / or not serious," the court said in a press release on Wathelet's recommendation.

At the same time, he also argued that simply holding a standard essential patent does not automatically mean that a company has a "dominant position" in a market. This should be ascertained on a case-by-case basis, he said.

A final ruling by the court is likely to take several more months.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://systec-hamamatsu.com/2014/11/21/eu%25E6%25B3%2595%25E5%258B%2599%25E5%25AE%2598%25E3%2581%258C%25E8%258F%25AF%25E7%2582%25BA%25E6%258A%2580%25E8%25A1%2593%25E3%2581%25A8zte%25E3%2581%25AE%25E7%2589%25B9%25E8%25A8%25B1%25E8%25A8%25B4%25E8%25A8%259F%25E3%2581%25AB%25E5%25AF%25BE%25E3%2581%2597%25E3%2581%25A6%25E6%258F%2590%25E8%25A8%2580/&prev=search