InterDigital defeats ZTE in patent suit
Wireless technology company InterDigital has defeated Chinese phone maker ZTE in a US patent battle.
In the decision, at the US District Court for the District of Delaware on Wednesday (October 29), a jury found that two patents in the case, known as the ‘power ramp-up patents’, which ZTE had tried to invalidate, were both valid and infringed.
The patents, US numbers 7,190,966 and 7,286,847, were asserted by InterDigital in January last year following a failure to agree a licensing deal with ZTE.
Another patent surrounding wireless technology, US number 8,380,244, was also deemed to be infringed.
InterDigital had asserted four patents but District Judge Richard Andrews determined that further clarity of the language in the claims of the fourth patent was required. He decided to hold another trial surrounding the alleged infringement of the patent, US number 7,941,151, at a later date.
Before the case, InterDigital had also sought to block imports of ZTE phones at the US International Trade Commission. InterDigital was later prevented from obtaining a banning order, but has appealed against that decision.
In a statement, William Merritt, president of InterDigital, said the jury's verdict validated InterDigital's “significant contributions” to the advancement of the cellular wireless industry and supported its longstanding licensing programme.
"We hope the verdict motivates ZTE and others to reach fair and reasonable licence agreements with InterDigital for the use of our valuable portfolio of patents," he added.
According to Bloomberg, InterDigital’s profits rose as much as 9.1% following the jury’s decision.
ZTE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
