Huawei recently filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile over alleged patented 4G violations, submitted to the Texas District Court last Tuesday.
In an era where patent disputes seem to be a thing, be it legit complaints or troll accounts, Huawei is wasting no time in calling out violations against its company to stay on top of the legal battle "game." Seriously, there are lawsuits raining every now and then involving the leading brands in the tech industry, and mind you, it's a fairly lucrative business scheme if you're on the winning side.
The latest lawsuit filed by Huawei, however, only seeks to ask the court to declare that the company followed a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) procedure to procure a licensing agreement for T-Mobile. This would've, in turn, granted the "un-carrier" fair use of its patented 4G technology that amounts to 14 instances.
This argument has been ongoing since 2014, when T-Mobile reportedly refused to sign the documents as it violated FRAND obligations, causing a temporary pause to license discussions. It's only been brought to the attention of media outlets now when Huawei decided to take legal action. The case was first spotted by Puget Sound Business Journal.
"The dispute puts T-Mobile at odds with one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world," writes the publication, commenting that "patent lawsuits like this can get highly contentious and play out for years."
Back in the same year, when disagreements started to occur between the two companies, T-Mobile filed an earlier complaint that accused Huawei of spying on its "corporate laboratories" to incorporate certain "phone testing robot technology" into its own production line. This case has been pending in Seattle federal court, finally bound for trial by the end of October.
Some reports have been led to conclude that Huawei's delayed (but coincidental) counter case in court against T-Mobile may perhaps serve as a sort of "bargaining chip" in the upcoming trial. If Huawei's own case wins in court, T-Mobile will have no choice but enter a bound license agreement between the two companies and pay for the necessary charges outlined by the former company.
Meanwhile, Huawei is seemingly out to get every company that it finds guilty of infringing upon its patented 4G technology as the company previously filed a similar case against Samsung, detailed in an earlier report. This time, however, the company is seeking compensation for the damages caused by the infringement while seemingly remaining forgiving and "hopeful" about its outcome.
"We hope Samsung will ... stop infringing our patents and get the necessary license from Huawei, and work together with Huawei to jointly drive the industry forward," said Ding Jianxing, the president of Huawei's Intellectual Property Rights Department.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
