Yahoo Finance Tech giant Huawei defeated in key Supreme Court battle over global patents for communications
Chinese communications giant Huawei has been defeated in the UK Supreme Court in an important ruling over global patents for mobile phone technology.
The firm was locked in a dispute with Unwired Planet International Ltd and Conversant Wireless Licensing over patents that have been declared to be essential to the 2G, 3G, and 4G communications standards.
Both companies accused Huawei of infringing patents they owned, sparking a lengthy legal battle which concluded in the Supreme Court this morning.
Delivering the hotly-anticipated ruling, Lord Hodge dismissed the appeals of Huawei and another Chinese tech firm, ZTE Corporation, and noted the case dealt with issues that were “important to the international market in telecommunications”.
Gary Moss, head of EIP Legal which acted for both Unwired and Conversant, said the ruling allows patent holders to insist tech giants like Huawei take out global licences of their products, rather than forcing the companies to prove they own patents in each individual country.
“We and our clients have faced significant pressures along the way, including opponents with significant resources who have thrown everything at us in an attempt to deflect our clients from securing the relief to which they were entitled”, he said.
“Many in the industry thought that what we were attempting was crazy and hopeless. But we and our clients have held firm; along the way we have gone through 12 major trials and appeals and innumerable interim Court hearings. We always believed in our clients’ case and seven years later we are delighted to have our belief endorsed by the Supreme Court.”
Huawei’s fellow tech giants Apple, Ericsson and Qualcomm had joined the appeal case, which had been termed by observers as a ‘David v Goliath’ battle. It started in 2013 for Unwired and 2017 for Conversant.
The ruling is expected to have significant implications for the communications industry, including with the rollout of 5G technology and future innovations in the industry.
Conversant Wireless’s CEO, Boris Teksler, welcomed the ruling, saying: “We are obviously extremely pleased at the decision of the UK Supreme Court on a topic fundamental to how IP is licensed in the Telecoms sector.
“The decision reflects the court’s deep understanding of the issues that affect our sector and encourages us to drive this industry forward.”
