Ministry steps in over Huawei-ZTE patent lawsuit

工信部介入華為中興專利戰

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has stepped in to arbitrate the intellectual property right lawsuit between Chinese telecommunication equipment providers Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corporation, the Nanfang Daily reported on Wednesday.

The ministry has arranged talks with Huawei's board director Chen Lifang in an attempt to negotiate a settlement, the newspaper said.

Huawei announced on April 28 that it had filed lawsuits against its rival ZTE for patent and trademark infringement in Germany, France and Hungary. A day later, ZTE fought back with a domestic lawsuit against Huawei for patent infringement over its fourth-generation mobile internet technology.

"Patent barriers have become an important means of competition in the international market, and no company can get around it," said Wang Yuquan, director of China operations at business consultancy Frost Sullivan.

It's just a matter of time before Huawei and ZTE "pick a fight" with each other because the two companies are highly alike in terms of products and services, Wang said. But in the end, they will probably reach a settlement, he said.

據南方日報周三報道，國家工業與信息產業部已介入我國兩大通訊設備商華為與中興的專利訴訟，

工信部已與華為董事陳黎芳約談，希望協調解決此事。

華為4月28日，宣布在德國、法國和匈牙利起訴中興通訊，稱對方侵犯華為的專利權和商標權。一天之后，中興通訊反訴，在中國針對華為侵犯中興通訊第四代移動通信系統(LTE)若干重要專利遞交了訴狀。

“專利壁壘已成為國際競爭的重要武器，任何公司都無法回避。”Frost Sullivan首席顧問王煜全表示。

在王看來，華為中興“打架”是早晚的事情，因為兩家企業無論產品和服務，都存在高度同質化現象。但他認為，兩家中國公司最終和解可能性比較大。