ZTE countersues Huawei over LTE patents in China

As night follows day, so a patent suit from one company usually spawns another in return; we've seen it happen with Apple and Samsung, and now Huawei  and ZTE are doing the same IP dance. After Huawei sued ZTE yesterday over allegations of patent theft, so ZTE has sued Huawei today "for patent infringement over its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution, or LTE, cellular wireless technologies in China."

ZTE is demanding that Huawei stop its infringement, pay compensation and "takes up the legal responsibilities" involved, which we're presuming means paying for all the lawyers currently rubbing their hands together with glee. It seems this is only the first in a number of suits, too; ZTE says there will be "a series of legal actions taken globally to protect ZTE's rights on intellectual properties."

As has become the usual, we're expecting this will all end up with cross-licensing agreements of just the sort that Huawei said yesterday that it had demanded from ZTE.

Press Release:

ZTE Files Lawsuit Against Huawei Technologies for Patent Infringement

29 April 2011, Shenzhen, China — ZTE Corporation (ZTE) today filed a lawsuit against Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. for patent infringement over its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution, or LTE, cellular wireless technologies in China.

In the lawsuit, ZTE requests that Huawei stops its violation, pays compensation to ZTE and takes up the legal responsibilities caused by the infringement. There will also be a series of legal actions taken globally to protect ZTE's rights on intellectual properties, ensuring its legitimate rights and interests will not be compromised.

ZTE believes the rapid and orderly development of the global telecom industry with innovation is closely related to ZTE's active involvement and collaboration with many other telecommunication corporations around the world.

ZTE also works with international standard organizations including ITU, 3GPP and 3GPP2 to build unified and interoperable communications networks. ZTE is in a leading position and has made significant contributions to the international standard organizations.

Meanwhile, ZTE has been strengthening its patent technologies in 2G, 3G and 4G. ZTE's strength in intellectual property rights — particularly in 3G and 4G technologies — and high-quality patented global deployments, are demonstrated by its technological competitive advantages and market development. In Q1 2011, the number of ZTE's applications for PCT patents ranked first in the world.

ZTE believes that patent competition should not be a source of competition between companies. ZTE respects the intellectual property rights of other companies, but it will not stop protecting its own intellectual property rights.