Huawei has filed patent infringement lawsuits against Verizon in the United States, seeking compensation for Verizon's use of patented technology that is protected by 12 of Huawei's US patents, the Chinese technology giant said on Thursday.
The company has spent more than $70 billion US dollars on R&D in the past decade, which has resulted in more than 80,000 patents worldwide – including over 10,000 patents in the United States alone, Huawei said.
"Verizon's products and services have benefited from patented technology that Huawei developed over many years of research and development," said Song Liuping, Huawei's Chief Legal Officer.
Before filing the lawsuits in Texas, Huawei negotiated with Verizon for a significant period of time, during which the company provided a detailed list of patents and factual evidence of Verizon’s use of Huawei patents. The two parties were unable to reach an agreement on license terms, the announcement said.
"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.”
"This is the common practice in the industry. Huawei is simply asking that Verizon respect Huawei's investment in research and development by either paying for the use of our patents, or refraining from using them in its products and services."
Since 2015, Huawei has received more than US$1.4 billion dollars in patent license fees. To date, it has also paid over US$6 billion dollars for the legitimate use of patented technologies developed by industry peers. 80% of these license fees have gone to companies in the United States.
Innovation and protection of intellectual property are the cornerstone of Huawei's success. In 2018, Huawei's R&D expenditure reached US$15 billion dollars, close to 15% of the company's annual revenue. Huawei was ranked fifth on the 2019 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, published by European Commission.
