By Kim Yoo-chul
Samsung Electronics said Friday that it sued Huawei Technologies over the latter’s alleged involvement in infringing on Samsung’s wireless technology patents in China.
This is the latest chapter in the rivalry between Samsung Electronics and the Chinese handset vendor after Samsung was sued by Huawei over patent infringement in May.
“Samsung Electronics filed a lawsuit in an intellectual property court in Beijing against Huawei and a distributor for selling mobile devices,” said Samsung.
The Korean company is seeking 25 billion won in compensation from the lawsuit, said officials.
In the lawsuit, Samsung Electronics claimed Huawei infringed on patents for control information in a mobile communications system, as well as information and image storage and digital camera technology, all owned by Samsung, without paying royalties.
“The local distributor has been selling Huawei devices infringing on Samsung intellectual property,” said Samsung.
Samsung Electronics didn’t specify its next move, while Huawei representatives in Korea were unavailable for comment.
Analysts and patent experts predict the ongoing legal battle between the two smartphone leaders will escalate further.
Huawei earlier said Samsung Electronics’ 16 mobile products ― from Galaxy S7 and S7 edge to a budget model of Galaxy J5 ― infringed on its patents for wireless technology.
According to data from World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Huawei was the world’s top patent holder with 3,898 by last year, followed by the U.S.-based chipset giant Qualcomm with 2,442. Samsung Electronics ranked fourth in terms of patent numbers.
Even though Huawei claimed that its patents were intentionally infringed by Samsung, the Chinese company didn’t seek a sales ban on Samsung products.
“By taking Samsung to the international court, Huawei wants to move away from its copycat image. The patent battle between Samsung and Apple benefited Samsung Electronics to lift the reputation of Samsung brands and Samsung products, and Huawei wants to benefit similarly by launching some marketing noise,” said Chung Dong-joon, a local attorney, adding that Huawei will expand its legal battle with Samsung in China in hopes of raising the profile of its domestic patents.
In 2015 Huawei became the first Chinese handset vendor to ship more than 100 million smartphones in a year when a 44 percent jump in its shipments defied the market slowdown. It is the world’s biggest telecom equipment firm, reporting about 71 trillion won in sales last year.
Huawei is positioned to access patents by Apple, Ericsson and Qualcomm, as the Chinese company has struck cross-licensing agreements with each of them.
By last year, Huawei agreed with Apple to give the iPhone designer the rights to its 769 patents, while Apple decided to grant Huawei the rights to its 98 patents.
Samsung Electronics has signed cross-licensing agreements with IBM, Toshiba and Microsoft. Samsung declined to reveal what type of patents it is licensed to use.