Huawei sues T-Mobile over 4G patents
Consider it retaliation for T-Mobile's lawsuit from 2014.
It took a while, but Huawei finally has a response to T-Mobile's lawsuit from 2014. The Chinese mobile giant is suing T-Mobile US for allegedly violating 14 patents on 4G wireless technology. Supposedly, the Uncarrier rejected a 2014 offer to license the patents and brought talks to a halt until Huawei decided to sue this year. Huawei isn't asking for damages, mind you. Instead, it just wants the court to declare that it met obligations to license patents at a fair and reasonable rate -- in theory, T-Mobile wouldn't have much choice but to take the offer after that.
We've asked T-Mobile for its take on the lawsuit, and we'll let you know if it has something to say. Whatever happens, it won't be surprising if the case ultimately leads to a settlement. T-Mobile's lawsuit, which accused Huawei of stealing testing robot tech, is still ongoing. While Huawei said it would cooperate at the time, the company probably isn't eager to risk serious penalties. Its patent suit could serve as a bargaining chip that gets T-Mobile to back off.
