14 DAY TRIAL // South Korean-based phone manufacturer Samsung and China-based rival Huawei have reportedly settled their patent lawsuits after several years of legal disputes.
A report from Nikkei reveals that the settlement was mediated by the Guangdong High People’s Court in southern China and includes what’s likely to be “cross-licensing of patents tied to basic technologies.”
No specifics have been provided on these patents or basic technologies, but Samsung and Huawei working together is a big win for everybody, especially as the patents the two own can help eventually create better products from both sides.
In fact, the reason for the settlement is believed to be the two companies willing to spend the resources they would normally put in a lawsuit in other areas, including on product development. This makes sense in the long term, especially as the phone market overall fell 4.1% last year and Samsung and Huawei are currently the two largest smartphone manufacturers.
40 lawsuits involving Huawei and Samsung
IDC data shows that Samsung led the market last year with 20.8% share, followed by Apple with 14.9% and Huawei with 14.7%. In the meantime, Huawei managed to overtake Apple, and the company now wants to surpass Samsung in global shipments by the end of 2020.
The dispute between the two started three years ago when Huawei decided to file a lawsuit in China and the US against Samsung for what it claimed to be a violation of its 4G wireless technology. Samsung responded with a series of patent lawsuits as well, and since then, the two sued each other on several occasions. The cited source estimates Samsung and Huawei filed more than 40 lawsuits against each other since 2016.
Neither Samsung nor Huawei released a statement on this alleged settlement, but if such a confirmation is provided, there’s no doubt the most interesting part is the patent cross-licensing topic.