Verizon attacks Huawei’s ‘baseless’ patent infringement claims
Telecoms company Verizon has ripped into patent suits filed against it by Huawei, calling them “baseless claims” and accusing the Chinese company of attempting to “take credit for American innovation”.
“Verizon’s patented ideas fuel Verizon’s networks—not the outdated and valueless techniques referenced in Huawei’s complaint,” said Verizon in its counterclaims filed on Wednesday, April 1 at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas.
In February, Huawei accused Verizon of infringing 12 patents, which cover networking, security, and video communications technology, in two lawsuits.
“During the past 20 years, Huawei has also endeavoured to drive the mobile industry forward through collaborations on commercialisation, innovation, and standardisation,” said Huawei in its claim, adding that Verizon’s services incorporate its patent-protected technology.
According to the Chinese telecoms company, as of December 31, 2019, Huawei holds more than 85,000 issued patents, covering all major jurisdictions of the world, including 40,000 patents granted in the US and Europe.
In comparison, Verizon said that it holds more than 7,000 US patents for its inventions.
Verizon has denied all of Huawei’s charges, claiming that it doesn’t infringe and that all the patents are invalid and unenforceable.
“Huawei has a long record of failing to play by the rules where IP is concerned,” said Verizon, citing its recent indictment by the US government for IP theft as a prime example.
In January this year, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) filed criminal charges against Huawei, which is accused of stealing trade secrets from US competitors.
The charges claim that Huawei operated a rewards system for employees to incentivise the theft of trade secrets and it’s also alleged to have stolen robotic parts from T-Mobile US.
At the time, Chinese officials labelled the charges as “unfair and immoral”, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang telling reporters that the charges were an attempt to “mobilise state power to blacken the names of and crackdown on specific companies”.
In May last year, the US blacklisted Huawei, amid a trade row between the US and China.
Huawei’s blacklisting means that it can’t acquire components and technology from US firms without obtaining a licence from the US government.
The ban has taken a toll on the Chinese company—Huawei missed its 2019 revenue target. However, the company did post annual revenue of CNY858.8 billion ($123 billion), up 19.1% year-on-year.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox.
Today’s top stories:
China drives filings in UK as global TM registers begin to stabilise
YouTube not required to hand over infringers’ details, says CJEU adviser
Coty v Amazon a mixed bag for e-commerce platforms, say lawyers
