Samsung goes for the jugular, countersues Huawei on patent infringement

Samsung announced yesterday that they have sued Huawei Technologies Co Ltd for patent infringement in China. This move comes as a retaliation to Huawei suing Samsung in California and China over 4G Cellular communications technology patents, OS and interface elements.

However, Samsung maintains that they have sued Huawei in a Beijing court as:

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.

Huawei in turn said that they have not received a formal statement and they were ready to defend themselves:

In the absence of a negotiated settlement, litigation is often an efficient way to resolve intellectual property rights disputes.

If you remember, the Apple vs Samsung story began on a similar fashion in 2011 with both suing each other, and the only result being Samsung gaining immense popularity. It was marketing at its best, taking on one of the biggest names in the tech industry. Sound familiar?

It seems Huawei is taking the same route, taking on the biggest smartphone player in the world to get some marketing cache in the West. Although, in the previous case, Samsung was forced to enter the ring by Apple. CIMB analyst Lee Do-hoon also voiced a similar opinion saying that neither of the companies was looking for a "monetary compensation from the legal battle". We may these lawsuits end up with just cross-licensing agreements between both parties.

Huawei shipped 100 million smartphones in 2015 which was a 44 percent increase from the previous calendar year, even though we were seeing a decline in smartphone shipments worldwide. Comparing that to Samsung's more than 320 million smartphones shipped during the same period, the number seems small especially considering the lackluster sales of the Galaxy S6 series of phones.

Source: Reuters