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)