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17 October 2016Patents

Qualcomm sues Meizu for patent infringement

Qualcomm has filed a complaint against Chinese electronics company Meizu in the US, Germany and France for allegedly infringing its patents.

The US complaint was filed with the International Trade Commission and in Germany the lawsuit was submitted to the Mannheim Regional Court.

The company has further initiated “an infringement seizure action in France to obtain evidence for a possible future infringement action there”, according to a statement.

In June, Qualcomm filed complaints against Meizu in China relating to patent licensing terms.

According to a statement at the time, Qualcomm requested rulings that the terms of a patent licence that it offered to Meizu comply with China’s Anti-Monopoly Law and Qualcomm’s fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing obligations.

Qualcomm also sought a ruling that the offered patent licence terms “should form the basis for a patent licence with Meizu for Qualcomm’s fundamental technologies patented in China for use in mobile devices, including those relating to 3G (WCDMA and CDMA2000) and 4G (LTE) wireless communications standards”.

By July, Qualcomm had reportedly filed 17 complaints in China against Meizu.

Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm, said in a statement: “Meizu’s refusal to negotiate a licence agreement in good faith, and its sales and distribution of infringing products around the world leave Qualcomm with no choice but to protect our patent rights through these additional legal proceedings.”

In response to the litigation, Meizu said that it is willing to pay a licence fee but only if it is reasonble (in a Chinese language statement).

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17 November 2016   The US International Trade Commission has voted to investigate whether a number of mobile devices infringe patents owned by telecoms equipment company Qualcomm.
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3 January 2017   Semiconductor company Qualcomm has signed a patent licence agreement with China-based consumer electronics business Meizu Technology.