US-Based InterDigital Signs a Patent License Agreement with Chinese Tech Giant Huawei

InterDigital, a mobile technology research and development company based out of the US, has quite recently reached a global non-exclusive Patent License Agreement with Huawei Technologies, a Chinese multinational technology company.

The agreement authorizes Huawei to use some of InterDigital’s patents on its products; thereby, putting an end to the years of legal disputes between the two companies.  It focuses on specific Huawei’s devices spanning 3G, 4G, and 5G telecommunication standards and further gives Huawei the legal permission to use InterDigital’s patented High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and Wi-Fi technologies in those products.

According to a statement from InterDigital, the agreement will be in effect until 31st December 2023.

InterDigital’s president and CEO, William J. Merritt, said in a statement that amid the current economic downturn and challenging circumstances, the patent license agreement between the two companies highlights the strength of InterDigital and the value of its contributions to various generations of wireless and video standards.

At present, Huawei, the leading provider of telecoms equipment in the world, is stuck in the middle of a tech war between China and the US. Last year, China was added to a trade blacklist by the US government on national security concerns, which restricted China’s ability to buy software, hardware, and other services from hi-tech suppliers in the US. Meanwhile, Huawei and InterDigital have agreed to put an end to all the pending lawsuits over Patent Infringement and license fees between them. Legal disputes between the two companies have lasted for many years.

When it comes to the technology industry, patent infringement lawsuits are quite common. Last year, InterDigital had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Huawei, corresponding to seeking compensation for the Chinese tech giant’s use of its patented inventions concerning the industry standards for 3G, 4G, and 5G telecommunications. On the other hand, Huawei had filed a lawsuit in a local court in January 2018 against InterDigital over patent fees. In that lawsuit, Huawei stated that InterDigital didn’t treat it fairly, corresponding to the fees charged to use InterDigital’s wireless patents.

Headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, Huawei specializes in providing telecommunications equipment and selling consumer electronics like smartphones.

Founded in 1972, InterDigital specializes in developing and providing wireless and video technologies for networks, mobile devices, and services across the globe. The company claims even more than 32,000 patents in video and wireless technologies along with 9,800 patents for 5G cellular data standards.