Huawei files a lawsuit against U.S. telco Verizon over patent rights

	
Huawei has alleged Verizon of infringing a wide range of the former’s services
	
The Chinese firm accused Verizon of infringing 238 patents the previous year


Chinese multinational giant, Huawei has reportedly sued Verizon, the U.S. telecom company as it allegedly used 12 patents with no authorization. The United States District Courts for both the Western and Eastern Districts of Texas received two complaints. All the patents reportedly include the networking technology of Huawei. However, it excludes 5G.

Apparently, Huawei has alleged that Verizon has infringed on the company’s patents for a wide range of services that also includes FiOS and a network infrastructure that essentially facilitates communication via Verizon’s network. Huawei claimed that by the end of 2018, Verizon had greatly profited from its technology, with gains valued at $29.8 billion.

Huawei has also claimed in a statement that it had held several meetings with Verizon regarding licensing at the beginning of 2019, but by January end, the negotiations had come to an end and they had reached no agreement.

Dr. Song Liuping, the Chief Legal Officer of Huawei said that the products and services offered by Verizon have largely benefitted from the patented technology that was developed by Huawei over several years of research and development.

Dr. Song further added that it is a common practice across the industry. Huawei has been asking Verizon to respect the investments made by Huawei in research and development by either refraining themselves from using the patents in products and services or paying for using them.  

According to reliable sources, Huawei reinvests nearly 10-15% of the overall revenue into research & development every year which has resulted in over $70 billion spent on 80,000 patents across the world. Huawei has not cleared as to how much it shall be paid for the particular lawsuit.

Seemingly, the company had accused Verizon of infringement about 238 of its patents the previous year. The New York Times had estimated at the time that Verizon will possibly owe more than $1 billion in fees to Huawei.

 

Source Credit- https://gizmodo.com/huawei-slaps-verizon-with-lawsuit-for-violating-patents-1841490746