InterDigital settles with Huawei
US licensing company InterDigital and Chinese phone maker Huawei have agreed to end their global patent dispute.
The companies have agreed to end all patent litigation, including a US International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation, as part of a confidential settlement.
Huawei has also agreed to end its antitrust complaints, according to the joint motion filed on January 2.
If approved, the settlement would end a lawsuit InterDigital filed last January at the ITC seeking cease-and-desist and exclusion orders that could have prevented Huawei from importing certain smartphones and tablets into the US which may have infringed InterDigital's patents. Other defendants, including Nokia, have not reached a settlement agreement with InterDigital.
Delaware-based InterDigital owns of a portfolio of patents in high-speed wireless communications, while Huawei is the largest maker of mobile phone equipment in China.
Huawei had also filed complaints in both Europe and China accusing InterDigital of demanding excessive royalties and failing to fulfil its pledge to license patents on fair and reasonable terms.
The motion says: “Termination of this investigation … will not adversely affect the public interest because such termination will not affect the public health and welfare, competitive conditions in the US economy, the production of like or directly competitive articles in the US, or US consumers.”
