Only a few months after Huawei hit Samsung with a patent infringement lawsuit, Samsung has struck back at Huawei with a patent infringement lawsuit of its own, reports Reuters.
The lawsuit, filed in an intellectual property court in Beijing, accuses Huawei of violating Samsung’s patents regarding wireless communications, digital cameras, and other technologies. Samsung, which specifically mentions the Mate 8 devices created under the Honor brand, and other tablets and phones, seeks 161 million yuan ($24 million) in damages from the alleged violations.
“We have faithfully negotiated with other patent holders for the fair licensing of technology,” said Samsung in a statement sent to Bloomberg. “However, 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.”
Weirdly enough, Huawei said it has not received Samsung’s complaint, though the company said it will defend itself in such disputes.
“We will review any documentation and defend ourselves as appropriate when we do,” said Huawei.
As alluded to earlier, this is not the first time Samsung and Huawei have clashed regarding intellectual property infringement, with the latter suing the former in May. According to the ongoing dispute, Samsung allegedly sold unlicensed use of 4G cellular communications technology, operating systems, and user interface software on its devices. The two companies did try hashing things out but were unable to arrive at an agreement.
The lawsuit was seen as something of a watershed moment, since Chinese companies are the ones usually hit with patent infringement lawsuits. For its part, Huawei amassed a massive patent war chest, with the company granted over 50,000 patents as of December 31, 2015.
Furthermore, Samsung is already neck-deep in patent conflicts, and the South Korean outfit was recently granted an appointment to deliver an oral argument to the U.S. Supreme Court on October 10 in one such action. Samsung hopes to put in question a patent settlement with Apple that saw the Cupertino, California-based company awarded $548 million in damages.
