Huawei lawsuit against Verizon heads to trial in Texas
A lawsuit filed by Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd against Verizon Communications alleging patent infringement is set to begin jury selection on Wednesday.
In February 2020, Huawei sued Verizon in two U.S. District
courts in Texas, alleging the company used a dozen Huawei patents without
authorization in areas such as computer networking, download security, and
video communications, seeking an unspecified amount of compensation and royalty
payments.
Verizon last year called the lawsuits "nothing more
than a PR stunt" and "a sneak attack on our company and the entire
tech ecosystem" and filed counterclaims against Huawei, claiming the
Chinese company violated Verizon patents.
Huawei said in 2020 that it "is simply asking that
Verizon respect Huawei's investment in research and development by either
paying for the use of our patents, or refraining from using them." Huawei
declined comment Tuesday.
Huawei has been a flashpoint in the U.S.-China relationship
for several years. The United States placed the company on an economic
blacklist in 2019 over what it said were national security concerns.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Wednesday in Huawei's
suit filed in the Eastern District of Texas that involves a small number of
patents related to optical transport networks, while the other Texas lawsuit,
related to wireless patents, is set for trial in October. The jury selection
could be delayed by a day or two depending on the status of an unrelated case.
In June 2019, Reuters reported that Huawei told Verizon it
should pay licensing fees for use of more than 230 Huawei patents and was
seeking more than $1 billion.
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