Huawei Sues US Verizon Wireless Co. for Patent Infringement

China's high-tech firm Huawei Wednesday filed a lawsuit in Texas against U.S. carrier Verizon, seeking compensation for what it said were infringements of its intellectual property rights.

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Huawei’s lawsuit argues that Verizon should pay the Chinese company for its use of a variety of telecommunications technologies patented by the Shenzhen-based company.

Although Huawei is not a supplier to Verizon, the Chinese company assures that Verizon is using technology that is protected by twelve of its U.S.-registered patents.

According to the court documents, Verizon “profited greatly” from the Huawei technology, with the U.S. firm’s wireline segment generating revenue of US$29.8 billion in 2018.

“For years now, we have successfully negotiated patent license agreements with many companies. Unfortunately, when no agreement can be reached, we have no choice but to seek a legal remedy,” Huawei’s lawyer Song Liuping commented.

The conflict came to light last year when the Wall Street Journal reported that Huawei had written to Verizon about this matter, demanding payments that could exceed US$1 billion.

Although Song has not confirmed how much Huawei is asking for, he did suggest that the two companies had met several times to discuss the matter.​​​​​​​​​​​​

This is not the first time Huawei uses legal methods to defend its rights. On may 2019, two weeks after Google announced the cessation of its services to Huawei, the Chinese firm declared its willingness to legally challenge the U.S. decision to blacklist it as unreliable.

On that occasion, Huawei, the world’s top supplier of telecoms equipment and the second-largest smartphone maker, showed that, in the face of irregularities and injustice, will not stand idly by.​​​​​​​