Samsung asks US court to block Huawei’s Chinese injunction
Samsung Electronics has asked a US court to prevent the enforcement of a Chinese injunction, issued last month, which ordered the company to cease making and selling products that infringe two of competitor Huawei Technologies’ patents.
The motion to enjoin Huawei from enforcing the injunction was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, on Thursday, February 1. The court hearing should take place on March 14, according to Samsung’s motion.
The long-running dispute between Samsung and Huawei dates back to May 2016, as reported by WIPR. Huawei filed complaints against Samsung in China and the US.
Huawei complained that Samsung was infringing multiple patents relating to Huawei’s proprietary 4G technologies.
In January the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court ruled that Samsung had infringed two patents covering the wireless technology, and ordered the Korean company to stop selling the infringing products.
Samsung appealed against the order issued by the court in China, meaning the injunctive order has been temporarily stayed. In the meantime it is asking the US court to prevent the enforcement of the Chinese injunction, until the fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) and antitrust claims made by the Korean company have been resolved.
Samsung’s motion to enjoin said that the injunction is being used as a “bargaining tool” to make Samsung license standard-essential patents (SEPs) on Huawei’s preferred terms.
It alleges that Huawei has not met its obligations to license SEPs on FRAND terms, and that seeking injunctive relief in this matter is “inconsistent” with a FRAND commitment.
Huawei has resorted to seeking “improper injunction-based licensing leverage”, the motion alleges. The injunctive order is a “procedural manoeuvre” that aims to “harass” Samsung and force it to accept “onerous non-FRAND terms” for a licence to 3G and 4G SEP portfolios.
Huawei’s desired licence structure has been a “moving target, varying wildly, although its royalty demands have been inflexible”, according to Samsung.
Central to the motion is the claim that “Huawei’s enforcement of this injunction violates US antitrust law forbidding patent ‘hold up’, is contrary to its FRAND licensing obligations, and threatens a major disruption to US commerce”.
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