Fight between the tech companies regarding the patent rights and licensing seems very common these days. A huge fight between Samsung and Apple in 2010 has not come to an agreement yet. And now Qualcomm is dragging a Chinese smartphone manufacturer Meizu to the court. The company accused Meizu that the Meizu allegedly used Qualcomm’s 3G and 4G radio standards with no authorization, there seems to be no agreement in place.
Qualcomm’s fight with Meizu began back in June when Qualcomm filed a complaint with Beijing Intellectual Property Court. Earlier this year, Qualcomm paid around $1 billion to settle an antitrust investigation brought by the Chinese authorities. Unfortunately, it seems as if the quarrel went up a few notches. It seemed that the Chinese Officials are not interested, so the US San Diego-based chip maker is taking Meizu court in the United States, Germany, and France.
The Meizu seems to be not interested in making any kind of agreement with the Qualcomm. As the Qualcomm official website writes:
“Meizu’s refusal to negotiate a license 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,” said Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel, Qualcomm Incorporated
As we can see in the above statements, the Qualcomm wanted to negotiate with the Meizu, not involving any third party between them.
With the company moving forward with legal proceedings in multiple countries, Qualcomm likely hopes to put some pressure on Meizu into entering some sort of licensing agreement. The Qualcomm have filed complaints and actions with the USA International Trade Commission (ITC), the German Mannheim Regional Court and the French authorities, to be exact.
I imagine Qualcomm will have more luck with legal action outside of China, placing Meizu in serious trouble.
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