Huawei and Samsung China to drop lawsuits and cross-license patents

The Chinese tech giant Huawei has signed a framework agreement with Samsung China on the cross-licensing of patents related to global industry standards, bringing their lawsuits against each other to an end.

According to a report by CCTV, the agreement follows mediation by the High People's Court in south China's Guangdong Province.

[File photo: IC]

The two sides have lodged over 40 cases against each other in jurisdictions around the world after failing to reach an agreement during multiple rounds of talks on the cross-licensing of patents in 2011.

In May 2016, Huawei filed a lawsuit against Samsung in a Californian court, and also in the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. In June 2016, Huawei demanded 80.5 million yuan (11.7 million U.S. dollars) in compensation from Samsung for patent infringement, after bringing a case against the company in the Quanzhou Intermediate People's Court in Fujian.

The following month, Samsung demanded compensation of 161 million yuan (23.4 million U.S. dollars) in litigation against Huawei at the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.

The companies continued to file new lawsuits against each other, despite some of them being declared void by courts in China.

In the deal reached between the two tech giants, they agreed to settle their disagreements in a proper way and have started to withdrawing their lawsuits against each other.