Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Huawei suing Amazon over patent infringement: first hearing to take place in China on December 8

At a corporate presentation in June, Huawei emphasized that it would always seek to strike a reasonable balance between product business and patent licensing interests. It's like a law of nature in patent licensing, however, that patent holders have to enforce at times. Most license agreements happen without any litigation--but it doesn't always work that way.

The TechGoing website now reports that Huawei is suing Amazon over an alleged patent infringement and that the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court in the Chinese Province of Jiangsu will hold a hearing on December 8.

The report doesn't state the patent(s)-in-suit. It would be totally out of character for Huawei to sue Amazon over some third party's products that it's reselling. That's why it must be about Amazon's own products. There is only one obvious overlap between Huawei's patent portfolio and Amazon's devices: WiFi (IEEE 802.11), which is implemented by Amazon's Kindle e-readers and Echo smart speakers. Amazon tried to succeed in smartphones, but couldn't succeed with its Android fork (as it told the Competition Commission of India), so I doubt that cellular standard-essential patents are being asserted against Amazon.

I'm surprised that Huawei felt forced to go to court against Amazon, and I'll try to find out more about this new dispute between two technology industry giants.