US patent licensing firm says it received China arrest threats
Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

US patent licensing firm says it received China arrest threats

The long-running legal battle between InterDigital and Huawei took a new twist this week after InterDigital claimed its representatives were threatened with arrest by China’s antitrust authorities.

InterDigital, a California-headquartered company that licenses its portfolio of wireless-related technologies to telecoms companies, says it was told that China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) “couldn’t guarantee the safety of” its executives if they attended a meeting scheduled for yesterday.

This latest move by the NDRC comes after a series of patent battles between InterDigital, which is valued at about $1.3 billion, and Huawei, China’s leading telecoms equipment company.

InterDigital revealed in a securities filing on October 31 that it is being investigated for alleged antitrust violations by the NDRC.

A spokesman for the company told Managing IP that on December 10, the NDRC requested a meeting with its chief executive officer William Merritt in Beijing on December 18.

The spokesman said InterDigital told the NDRC that Merritt could not travel to Beijing at such short notice and that the company would send other executives in his place.

He said the NDRC then informed InterDigital through its Chinese counsel that its executives might be arrested or detained.

“To this date, we have cooperated fully with the NDRC’s investigation of our company, and continue to believe that we have done absolutely nothing wrong,” the company said in a statement. “However, we are simply unable to comply with any investigation that is accompanied by a threat to the safety of our executives.”

According to Reuters, InterDigital chief executive officer Merritt said in a letter to Chinese officials that the NDIC had told InterDigital it is being investigated because it filed a complaint about Chinese companies infringing on its patents with the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

InterDigital has asked the ITC to block imports of Huawei’s products into the US, and Huawei has complained to the European Commission about InterDigital’s patent licensing strategies.

InterDigital and Huawei have also squared up before the Chinese courts. In October, Guangdong High Court affirmed a trial court's ruling that InterDigital abused its market position, after Huawei accused it of breaching China’s Anti-Monopoly Law when it attempted to license standards-essential patents involving 2G and 3G data transmission.

The court ordered a damages award of Rmb20 million ($3.3 million) and set a royalty rate for the patents – a rare example of courts taking an active role in FRAND cases. The decision is included in Managing IP’s list of the 40 most important cases of 2013.

China’s NDRC appears to be taking a tougher approach against companies it suspects of violating the country’s antitrust rules. Last month it began an investigation into the activities of semiconductor company Qualcomm. The California-based company said it is not aware of any charge by the NDRC that Qualcomm has violated the Anti-Monopoly Law.

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

AI
Tennessee has passed the ELVIS Act, a law that fights against AI models that mimic the voice and likeness of music artists
Rob Stien, chief communications and public policy officer at InterDigital, says the EU has forgotten innovators while trying to solve an issue that doesn’t exist
As Australia’s Qantm IP leans towards being acquired by a private equity company, sources discuss what it could mean for IP firms
Law firms that are conscious of their role in society are more likely to win work, according to a survey of over 23,000 in-house professionals
Nghiem Xuan Bac Pham, managing partner of Vision & Associates, discusses opportunities created by the US-China rift as well as profitability issues facing IP practices
Douglas Leite and two of his colleagues were intrigued by Bhering Advogados’s mission to grow its patent litigation practice
Each week Managing IP speaks to a different IP practitioner about their life and career
Counsel explain how pricing flexibility, patent agents and being business partners can help them maintain profitable patent prosecution practices
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
Speakers at an INTA event weighed in on why firms should create AI use policies and how they stay on top of the latest developments
Gift this article