InterDigital Says Chinese Threats Are Over Huawei Patent Fight
2013-12-16 18:51:08.330 GMT
By Susan Decker
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- InterDigital Inc. Chief Executive Officer William Merritt said the Chinese government is threatening his company over its bid to collect patent royalties from phonemaker Huawei Technologies Co.
China’s antitrust agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, said it “couldn’t guarantee the safety of people” sent on behalf of the CEO or the company’s U.S. lawyers to a meeting scheduled for later this week, Merritt said in a telephone interview.
“It takes the process and puts it in a different place,”
Merritt said. “There’s nothing in that statement that can be positive.”
An investigation began in China after InterDigital, which owns patents on fundamental mobile-phone technology, filed an infringement complaint against Huawei and other handset manufacturers at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington.
While InterDigital has Chinese patents, it hasn’t filed lawsuits there against Huawei, Merritt said.
“The only thing we’ve done in China is make non-binding offers to Huawei,” on licensing the patents, he said.
The U.S. agency is scheduled to issue a final decision in the case Dec. 19. The meeting with Chinese officials was scheduled for the day before.
“From everything we heard, they wanted us over before that date” of the final U.S. trade decision, Merritt said. “There was some pressure being put on us in China to get ahead of the ITC case.”
InterDigital Letter
InterDigital sent a letter to the Chinese officials saying they wouldn’t attend the meeting because of the threats. The letter was reported earlier by Reuters.
Bill Plummer, vice president for external affairs for Huawei, didn’t have an immediate comment.
Huawei, China’s largest maker of phone-network equipment, has filed complaints in Europe and China accusing InterDigital of demanding excessive royalties and of failing to fulfill its pledge to license patents used in industry standards on fair and reasonable terms.
A Chinese court sided with Huawei in February and ordered InterDigital to pay 20 million renminbi ($3.3 million).
InterDigital is appealing.
A U.S. trade judge in July found no violation of InterDigital patent rights by Huawei, ZTE Corp. or Nokia Oyj.
The judge rejected arguments that InterDigital breached its licensing obligations. The six-member commission is reviewing those findings and can order an import ban of any products found to infringe U.S. patents.
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--Editors: Elizabeth Wasserman, Bernard Kohn
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