Huawei sues ZTE for patent infringement

 华为起诉中兴侵犯专利及商标权

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.

华为于今日在德国、法国和匈牙利对中兴提起法律诉讼，指控其侵犯了华为的专利权和商标权。起诉内容包括中兴侵犯了华为有关数据卡和LTE技术的一系列专利，并且未经华为许可，在数据卡产品上非法使用了华为的注册商标。

华为方面表示，曾多次积极邀请中兴进行专利交叉许可谈判，但没有获得成功；另外，华为在发现中兴数据卡产品非法使用华为注册商标后已发送了停止侵权承诺函，但中兴并未终止侵权行为，为了保护本公司的合法权益，华为不得不采取法律手段，请求法院禁止中兴继续侵犯华为的专利权及商标权。

华为首席法务官宋柳平表示，“知识产权是华为最宝贵的资产之一。出于对我们的客户和股东负责任的态度，不论侵权行为发生在全球哪个地区或哪种法律体系之下，我们都将会竭尽全力地保护这些资产，并全力保证所有公司对华为知识产权的使用都在合法的协议框架之内进行。”

中兴相关人士对华为起诉表示震惊，称不理解华为为什么在这样的时候有这样的举动，中兴一向尊重知识产权，包括别人的知识产权和自己的知识产权，将运用法律手段坚决维护自身利益。

但对中兴而言，华为的起诉无疑是雪上加霜。本月初，爱立信在英国、意大利和德国对中兴发起了专利侵权的起诉，要求有关当局勒令中兴停止在当地销售侵权手机，以及在德国停止销售中兴某些网络基础设施。中兴本月中旬则在中国提起对爱立信的专利诉讼，这也是中国通讯企业首次就4G核心专利技术对西方企业发起专利战，但这场专利大战可能旷日持久。