A court in Shanghai dismissed yesterday one of two complaints filed by mobile phone maker Shanghai DBTEL Industry against Motorola China Electronics for copyright infringement.

 

The verdict is expected to win Motorola a better position in an ongoing war between the two companies spanning more than four years.

 

In 1998, DBTEL, based in Taiwan, began working with Motorola under an OEM manufacturing contract, which ended in April 2002. Shanghai DBTEL was also included in the contract.

 

In January 2000, DBTEL began a project at Motorola's request to improve one of its products. DBTEL was responsible for the interior design, printed circuit-board design and mechanical design. The T189, the new product, was launched in April 2001.

 

A year later, DBTEL discovered that another product, the C289, produced by Motorola alone, was similar to the T189 in terms of its printed circuit-board and exterior look. It sued Motorola in Shanghai, Taiwan and the US for copyright infringement.

 

In Shanghai, DBTEL filed two suits against Motorola China over copyright infringement of its printed circuit-board and exterior design and sued the store from which it purchased the C289, demanding nearly 200 million yuan (US$25 million) in compensation.

 

Before that, Motorola sued DBTEL in Illinois in the US, demanding DBTEL pay back US$46 million for handset components it had supplied. Motorola also sought compensation of US$174 million, as well as the return of its technical material. It was considered as an official break-up of the two companies.

 

In 2003, DBTEL lost the case in Taiwan. The US cases are ongoing, according to Xu Weiqi, Motorola's attorney.

 

The Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court ruled on one of the two cases DBTEL filed in Shanghai yesterday. It rejected all of DBTEL's appeals, including a demand for a public apology and 99.3 million yuan (US$12 million) in compensation.

 

(China Daily August 26, 2006)