Samsung hits back at China’s Huawei with patent suit

Seoul:
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics said on Friday it had filed a
patent infringement suit in China against Huawei, adding fuel to a
growing legal battle between the rival smartphone makers.

In
the suit filed in a Beijing court, the electronics giant demanded
millions of dollars in compensation from the Chinese firm for
allegedly stealing its mobile imaging and data storage technology.

Despite our best efforts to resolve this matter amicably, it has regrettably become necessary to take legal action in order to defend our intellectual property,

The
move came after Huawei had filed a similar suit in a US court in May,
accusing Samsung of stealing patents on wireless connectivity for
handsets.

Samsung
is still the world’s top smartphone maker, but its market dominance
has been challenged by the emergence of Chinese firms such as Huawei,
pumping out cheaper, lower-end models.

Huawei
is now the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, after
Samsung and Apple, with a market share of about eight percent,
according to the market tracker IDC Research.

Samsung
is no stranger to patent rows, having dueled lawsuits with Apple for
years in courts around the world. The two reached a ceasefire in 2014
when they decided to drop all patent disputes outside the United
States.

AFP