Patent War In Telecom Industry

[BigTree.CN]

ZTE Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Ericsson - FoxBusiness.com

ZTE Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Ericsson

BEIJING -(Dow Jones)- Chinese telecommunications hardware maker ZTE Corp. (0763.HK) on Monday filed a lawsuit in China against a unit of Swedish rival Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson (ERIC) over alleged patent infringement, said Wang Haibo, ZTE's intellectual property director.

The move escalates a legal battle that began when Ericsson said earlier this month it filed patent-infringement lawsuits against ZTE in the U.K., Italy and Germany, and highlights ZTE's growth overseas in competition with Western rivals. Such lawsuits are common between global rivals in high-tech industries.

ZTE's suit against Ericsson (China) Communications Co. alleges Ericsson products sold in China violated ZTE patents covering core networks, global system for mobile communications, and fourth-generation mobile technology, and asks that the company be ordered to cease the infringement and pay unspecified damages, Wang told Dow Jones Newswires.

Wang said the number of ZTE patents in the case is "less than 10" and declined to say in which court ZTE filed the suit.

The "possibility exists" that ZTE could file further lawsuits against Ericsson in China or abroad, Wang said, declining to say what patents they might involve.

Ericsson spokesman Fredrik Hallstan said the company hasn't received notice of the lawsuit yet and declined to comment further.

Ericsson said earlier it filed its lawsuits against ZTE in Europe as a "last resort" to obtain a licensing agreement with ZTE and payment for its use of Ericsson patents, after years of talks. Ericsson alleged ZTE was using the patented technologies covering areas such as mobile technology WCDMA in its handsets, network infrastructure, or both, in the three European countries.

ZTE responded earlier this month by saying it would launch "patent invalidation procedures" against Ericsson in China. In a submission to China's State Intellectual Property Office, ZTE argued that three Ericsson patents covering second- and third-generation mobile technology should be invalidated since they don't meet criteria such as "creativeness" required for a patent, Wang said.

Wang said there is a chance the invalidation request could be processed this year but emphasized the time frame is hard to predict.

Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones Newswires

 

[BigTree.CN]

Ericsson to sue ZTE over alleged patent infringements | telecoms.com - telecoms industry news, analysis and opinion

Ericsson to sue ZTE over alleged patent infringements

Ericsson is to sue Chinese rival ZTE, claiming that the latter has infringed on patents for its 2-and-3G technologies. Saying that the action represented a “last resort” following “several years” of attempted resolutions, Ericsson filed suits in the UK, Italy and Germany on Friday. ZTE has responded by saying its considering taking similar action against Ericsson.

The patents in question are said to cover technology such as WCDMA, which ZTE uses in its handsets and network infrastructure in the three countries in question. ZTE has so far declined to reveal which of its patents are being infringed on by Ericsson. ZTE intellectual property director Wang Haibo told Dow Jones Newswires that the company had received notice of the suit against its UK subsidiary, to which it would respond “proactively” but had yet to receive notification of the other suits.

The disagreement takes place against a backdrop of increased overseas expansion for Chinese vendors and OEMs, driving them into direct competition with well-established European manufacturers such as Ericsson. According to ZTE, it had been discussing a patent cross-licensing deal with Ericsson and that it was still open to forming such an alliance. Wang said that the company had been “sincere in seeking agreement with Ericsson over intellectual property rights and patent licensing.” Last week, Ericsson’s Kasim Alfalahi told the Financial Times that ZTE had “refused to sign” any licensing agreement, giving the company no option but to “ask the courts to enforce our rights.”

A statement on ZTE’s website lays the blame squarely on Ericsson’s shoulders, accusing the Swedish manufacturer of “unilaterally breaking down the ongoing negotiations between the two parties,” adding that it will “initiate patent invalidation procedures against Ericsson before the patent re-examination board of SIPO.” SIPO is China’s State Intellectual Property Organisation.

According to the FT, the Swedish giant will, in addition to seeking damages, ask that the courts in the UK, Italy and Germany halt sales of ZTE handsets featuring Ericsson’s technology. Sales of certain components of ZTE’s network infrastructure in Germany are also said to be under threat from the challenge.

 

[BigTree.CN]

Motorola sues Huawei for trade secret theft | Chicago Breaking Business

U.S. mobile phone maker Motorola Inc. has sued China’s Huawei Technologies Co. for alleged theft of trade secrets, highlighting the fast-growing Chinese firm’s difficulty in shaking the nation’s reputation for piracy.

In the amended complaint, filed on July 16 in a federal court in Chicago, Motorola claimed an engineer shared information about a Motorola transceiver and other technology with Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, a former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army.
In an initial suit, filed in 2008, Motorola sued five of its former workers for allegedly sharing trade secrets with Lemko, which was also named in the suit and has a reseller agreement with Huawei.

Motorola claimed a string of emails tagged “Motorola Confidential Proprietary” showed that “Huawei and its officers knew they were receiving stolen Motorola proprietary trade secrets and confidential information without Motorola’s authorization and consent,” according to the suit.

Huawei said the lawsuit was groundless.

“Huawei has no relationship with Lemko, other than a reseller agreement. Huawei will vigorously defend itself against baseless allegations,” the company said in an emailed statement.

Cases like these are hard to prove from an evidence point of view, said Connie Carnabuci, a technology, intellectual property expert and partner at Freshfields in Hong Kong.

“Cases involving misappropriation of proprietary information are usually very difficult cases to run,” Carnabuci said.

“This case is being brought in the courts of the United States, one thing interesting is that decisions of the U.S. courts are not enforceable in China,” she added.

Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola accused Huawei of various violations including threatened or actual misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of fiduciary duty and usurpation of corporate opportunity.

Since at least 2006, Motorola had required its engineers to sign a confidentiality agreement, according to the filing.

Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson said: “We don’t comment on pending litigation, but will continue to vigorously defend our IP (intellectual property).”

Lemko could not be reached for comment.

DIVERGING FORTUNES

Huawei and Motorola were once fierce rivals in China’s fast-growing telecoms market, but their fortunes have diverged in the last few years.

Over that time, Huawei has risen to become the world’s second-largest seller of wireless telecoms equipment, notching major sales not only in developing markets but also in lucrative Western Europe markets.

Motorola, meanwhile, has seen its networking equipment business struggle in recent years as its mobile phone business also lost ground. It now looks poised to exit the networking equipment business, announcing earlier this week it would sell the unit to Nokia Siemens Networks for $1.2 billion.

Motorola’s ongoing case against Huawei comes as the Chinese company is trying to push for legitimacy in the global arena despite wariness from Western politicians over Ren’s government and military ties.

In 2008, Huawei’s bid to buy U.S. firm 3Com fell through after opposition from U.S. lawmakers.

The Motorola lawsuit has echos of another lawsuit Huawei faced.

In 2004, Cisco Systems Inc agreed to drop a drawn-out lawsuit against Huawei after the latter agreed to make some product changes.

“There is a lot of attention amongst Chinese companies and (multinational companies) doing business in China where people are looking at their business practices and ways to minimize unauthorized leakage of information,” Carnabuci said.

Huawei sues Motorola over intellectual property right

Huawei sues Motorola over intellectual property right

CHICAGO - China's Huawei Technologies Co sued Motorola and Nokia Siemens Networks on Monday in order to protect its intellectual property right, the company said in a press release.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, marks the first time Huawei has sued a US company.

Huawei said it seeks to stop the planned $1.2 billion sale of Motorola's networks business to the European company.

Motorola and Nokia Siemens Networks announced their deal in July. The transaction was initially targeted to close by the end of 2010, but the companies are still waiting for approval from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce's Anti-Monopoly Bureau.

Regulatory bodies in the United States, the European Union and six other countries have okayed the deal. Nokia Siemens Networks said in December that it is now aiming to close the transaction this quarter.

Earlier this year, Motorola split into Motorola Solutions, which makes communications equipment for government and industrial clients, and Motorola Mobility, which makes mobile devices and TV set-top boxes. Both of the new companies, as well as the now- extinct Motorola Inc, are named in the suit.

While Nokia Siemens Networks is also named in the suit, the legal action centers on Motorola. According to the lawsuit, Motorola and Huawei have had various agreements, dating to 2000, where Motorola has purchased Huawei network technologies and sold them under its own brand.

Huawei said that Motorola's purchases have totaled about $878 million since 2000 and that the agreements provided for a complementary relationship, where the two companies did not sell competing products.

In its lawsuit, Huawei said Motorola asked the company in September whether its agreements could be reassigned to Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). The Chinese company balked because "NSN is a chief competitor of Huawei that offers competing network software and hardware to the same customers," the complaint said.

Subsequent conversations between the companies have failed to yield fruit, and "it now appears that an arbitration will be necessary," Huawei said. Huawei is asking the court to stop Motorola from transferring any of Huawei's intellectual property to Nokia Siemens Networks.

"Motorola's failure to adopt measures sufficient to ensure that Huawei's proprietary information remains confidential has compelled the company to file for the appropriate legal protection of its rights," Huawei said in its statement.

 

[tanlixiang28776]

Seems that we have finally become assertive.

 

[BigTree.CN]

this is definitely getting fun, isn't it?

 

[ao333]

This belongs to the economic news sticky.

 

[StingRoy]

Everyone will exchange some money and the issue will be settled.

 

[rcrmj]

western companies finnally start getting some seriouse challenges from developing world, such as ZTE, Huawei`` etc
hopefully they wont act like amateur Google did using political excuses as their failure in chinese market``

 

[rcrmj]

but in the intellectural fields its difficult not to 'copy' from others unless u had a big break through, most cases they just 're-invent' the wheel``

 

[BigTree.CN]

western companies finnally start getting some seriouse challenges from developing world, such as ZTE, Huawei`` etc
hopefully they wont act like amateur Google did using political excuses as their failure in chinese market``

Ericsson seems to be well prepared this time.

The current situaion is certainly not in the favor of ZTE and the consequence of losing this case will be very catastrophic to ZTE.

 

[rcrmj]

Ericsson seems to be well prepared this time.

The current situaion is certainly not in the favor of ZTE and the consequence of losing this case will be very catastrophic to ZTE.

hope ZTE will win the case, not because of i believe ZTE didnt do anything worng but just just because its chinese``

 

[tanlixiang28776]

Everyone will exchange some money and the issue will be settled.

You were right

Motorola and Huawei Technologies have patched up their legal differences in disputes over the potential sharing of trade secrets.
The companies announced today that they've entered into an agreement to settle all litigation in two separate legal matters, pending certain conditions.
China-based Huawei has agreed to withdraw its lawsuit against Motorola and Nokia Siemens Networks. The suit, filed in January, sought to block Motorola's sale of its wireless equipment business to Nokia Siemens on the grounds that Motorola could reveal certain Huawei trade secrets to Nokia Siemens.
Related links
• Huawei sues Motorola over sale to Nokia
• Motorola selling network gear biz for $1.2 billion
• Huawei rebuts 'misperceptions' of U.S. authorities
In return for settling the suit, Huawei will received an undisclosed amount of money from Motorola to transfer its commercial agreements with Huawei. The agreement also allows Nokia to actually use certain confidential information revealed to Motorola about Huawei in order to manage the networks that it set up around the world using Huawei technology.
The $1.2 billion deal that would see Motorola's wireless networks and employees transferred to Nokia triggered the lawsuit by Huawei. Since Motorola has sold Huawei's wireless equipment for years, its employees are versed in Huawei's products and technology. Seeing Nokia Siemens as a competitor, Huawei alleged in its suit that any Motorola workers who moved over to Nokia could reveal certain trade secrets.
On its end, Motorola has agreed to dismiss a claim against Huawei in a legal action in which Motorola sued Huawei for allegedly stealing trade secrets as part of a corporate espionage case. The matter also involved a networking company called Lemko, with which Huawei had a reseller agreement. In 2008, Motorola sued five former employees for sharing information with Lemko.
"We regret that these disputes have occurred between our two companies," Greg Brown, president and CEO of Motorola Solutions, said in a statement. "Motorola Solutions values the long-standing relationship we have had with Huawei. After reviewing the facts, we decided to resolve these matters and return to our traditional relationship of confidence and trust. I am pleased that we can again focus on having a cooperative and productive relationship."


Read more: Motorola and Huawei settle legal disputes | Business Tech - CNET News

 

[StingRoy]

You were right

Motorola and Huawei Technologies have patched up their legal differences in disputes over the potential sharing of trade secrets.
The companies announced today that they've entered into an agreement to settle all litigation in two separate legal matters, pending certain conditions.

I knew it because of the history of patent accusations amongst the mobile companies. Everyone is ready to pounce upon each other well before the actual court filings. The moment one company decides to go file a patent violation, within almost a few weeks, the other company files counter accusations and almost invariably leads to out of court settlements.
Qualcomm, Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson have been involved in such cases almost since eternity.... good to see a new name in the pool. ... guess who profits out of all these... ??

Ans: Legal counsels

 

[gubbi]

Are you people talking about Intellectual property rights - of Chinese companies?

Ironic, isnt it?

A few days back, we had many Chinese members, along with many Pakistani members saying that its perfectly alright to steal data and tech from western countries/universities!

And now, we have the same defending Chinese IPR (if anything of that sort exists)!!!

 

[tanlixiang28776]

Are you people talking about Intellectual property rights - of Chinese companies?

Ironic, isnt it?

International courts don't think so.