Huawei sues ZTE for patent infringement

 華為起訴中興侵犯專利及商標權

Huawei Technologies Co., China's biggest telecom equipment maker, filed lawsuits against Chinese rival ZTE for patent and trademark infringement in Germany, France and Hungary Thursday.

The suits alleged ZTE, Huawei's chief domestic competition, had infringed its patents covering wireless modems and fourth-generation technology, called Long Term Evolution or LTE.

They also claimed ZTE had illegally used Huawei's trademark by incorporating proprietary technology into a wireless USB model and printing a Huawei logo on it without paying license fees.

Huawei said it had tried many times to bring ZTE into talks about the issue but had no success perusing an informal resolution to the dispute. It also pointed out it took such legal action only after discovering ZTE had failed to respond to cease and desist letters asking it to stop infringing on the firm's intellectual property.

"Intellectual property rights are Huawei's most valuable asset," said Song Liuping, Huawei's chief legal officer. "As a responsible company, Huawei will try its best to protect its intellectual property rights no matter where infringing acts take place and to ensure other companies use Huawei's patents legally."

ZTE said it was "astonished" by Huawei's accusation and couldn't understand why Huawei has taken it to court at this moment.

"ZTE always respects the intellectual property rights of others and also its own, and will resort to legal action to protect its interests," the company said in a statement.

Huawei's lawsuit adds to ZTE's legal troubles. Ericcson, the world's largest manufacturer of telecom equipment, sued ZTE in Europe in early April for patent infringements on its technology.

華為于今日在德國、法國和匈牙利對中興提起法律訴訟，指控其侵犯了華為的專利權和商標權。起訴內容包括中興侵犯了華為有關數據卡和LTE技術的一系列專利，并且未經華為許可，在數據卡產品上非法使用了華為的注冊商標。

華為方面表示，曾多次積極邀請中興進行專利交叉許可談判，但沒有獲得成功；另外，華為在發現中興數據卡產品非法使用華為注冊商標后已發送了停止侵權承諾函，但中興并未終止侵權行為，為了保護本公司的合法權益，華為不得不采取法律手段，請求法院禁止中興繼續侵犯華為的專利權及商標權。

華為首席法務官宋柳平表示，“知識產權是華為最寶貴的資產之一。出于對我們的客戶和股東負責任的態度，不論侵權行為發生在全球哪個地區或哪種法律體系之下，我們都將會竭盡全力地保護這些資產，并全力保證所有公司對華為知識產權的使用都在合法的協議框架之內進行。”

中興相關人士對華為起訴表示震驚，稱不理解華為為什么在這樣的時候有這樣的舉動，中興一向尊重知識產權，包括別人的知識產權和自己的知識產權，將運用法律手段堅決維護自身利益。

但對中興而言，華為的起訴無疑是雪上加霜。本月初，愛立信在英國、意大利和德國對中興發起了專利侵權的起訴，要求有關當局勒令中興停止在當地銷售侵權手機，以及在德國停止銷售中興某些網絡基礎設施。中興本月中旬則在中國提起對愛立信的專利訴訟，這也是中國通訊企業首次就4G核心專利技術對西方企業發起專利戰，但這場專利大戰可能曠日持久。