Chinese court rules against Samsung, again
Samsung Electronics, the flagship company of the wider Samsung Group, has been ordered to stop infringing two patents owned by Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies.
The ruling was given by the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court on Thursday, January 11.
Huawei filed complaints against Samsung in both China and the US in 2016, alleging that Samsung was infringing multiple patents relating to 4G telecommunication technologies, operating systems, and interface software.
The court yesterday ruled that Samsung had infringed two patents involving the technology.
Huawei reportedly asked Samsung to enter into a cross-licensing deal. The court yesterday found that Samsung “maliciously delayed negotiations and was obviously at fault”, according to the court’s release.
Samsung had previously filed a countersuit, also in China, accusing Huawei of infringing 4G-related patents, WIPR reported.
In June 2016 Huawei filed a further complaint relating to the same infringement at the Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court, according to Reuters.
Samsung has been ordered to stop selling the infringing products, and pay a small court fee.
The Quanzhou court came to the same conclusion, and in April 2017 ordered Samsung to pay RMB 80 million ($11.6 million) to Huawei for patent infringement. Huawei had sought damages for more than 30 million products sold containing the infringing element, according to Reuters.
A spokesperson for Samsung said: “We respect FRAND terms and others' intellectual property in order to ensure fair competition and continued growth in the industry. Accordingly, we will thoroughly review the court’s decision and determine appropriate responses."
In September 2017, China’s State Intellectual Property Office invalidated five Samsung patents and partially invalidated another, following a claim by Huawei that eight of Samsung’s patents were invalid. Only two were sustained, according to marketing insight and analysis media company MLex.
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