Chinese Gear Makers Huawei, ZTE Locked in IP Showdown (gigaom, April 27,
2011):
In a surprise attack against a fellow Chinese telecom,
Huawei filed IP-violation suits against ZTE this morning in Germany, France and
Hungary. Huawei is accusing the rival equipment vendor of violating several
patents relating to its data card and Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G wireless
networking technologies. The company also claims ZTE has been illegally using a
Huawei-registered trademark on some of its data card products.
Huawei claims
the suits were a last resort, filed only after ZTE failed to respond to cease
and desist letters, and refused to come to the table for cross-patent licensing
negotiations.
...
Mr. Fosspatents recently mentioned the
Germany action and is quoted in several recent articles. The Chinese may still
not be able to effectively adjudicate patent infringement in their own
country.
It can speak to an overabundance of supply in what is actually a
commodity market, supported by artificial distinctiveness propped up by
intellectual property protections.
When intellectual property protections
value is inflated by the courts it becomes cost effective as a means of
controlling market share, cheaper than saturation advertising.
Either the
courts or patent offices can put the brakes on excesses. The problem being the
various controlling influences pull in different directions.
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