Huawei sues Verizon for patent infringement, Verizon calls lawsuit 'PR stunt'

Huawei's chief legal officer Song Liuping said it is "simply asking for Verizon to respect its investment in R&D by either paying for the use of its patents, or refraining from using them in its products and services". He explained that Verizon's products and services have benefited from patented technology that Huawei developed over many years of research and development.

Prior to filing the lawsuits in US district courts in Texas, Huawei said it negotiated with Verizon for "a significant period of time". During that period, Huawei provided a detailed list of patents and factual evidence of Verizon’s use of Huawei patents, the press statement said, but both parties were unable to reach an agreement on license terms. Song said Huawei has successfully negotiated patent licence agreements with many companies but when no agreement can be reached, the company has no choice but to seek a legal remedy.

According to the press statement, the Chinese smartphone maker reinvests 10% to 15% of its revenue in R&D annually, and has spent more than US$70 billion on R&D in the past decade. The innovations are shared with the broader industry through licence agreements. These efforts by Huawei has led to more than 80,000 patents worldwide, including over 10,000 patents in the US alone, the statement added.

Since 2015, the Chinese smartphone maker has received more than US$1.4 billion in patent licence fees. To date, it has also paid over US$6 billion for the legitimate use of patented technologies developed by industry peers, and 80% of these license fees have gone to companies in the United States.

In response, Verizon said in a statement that Huawei's lawsuit filed over night, in the very early morning, is "nothing more than a PR stunt". "This lawsuit is a sneak attack on our company and the entire tech ecosystem. Huawei’s real target is not Verizon; it is any country or company that defies it. The action lacks merit, and we look forward to vigorously defending ourselves, the US telco added.

In December last year, the US Federal Communications Commission was also sued by Huawei after it issued Huawei a security threat and banned it from a government subsidy programme, Reuters reported. Meanwhile in 2018, Verizon reportedly shelved plans to sell Huawei phones following pressure from the US government, multiple media outlets including Bloomberg said. Huawei has been embroiled in the US-China trade war, which led to the US government banning it from acquiring US components and technology without approval last year.

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