Huawei readies for FTC complaint against InterDigital

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

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

Huawei readies for FTC complaint against InterDigital

Chinese telecoms firm Huawei is set to complain to the US antitrust watchdog the FTC about InterDigital’s patent practices

Yesterday the US International Trade Commission (ITC) announced that it would investigate a complaint lodged by US non-practising entity InterDigital against telecoms companies Huawei, Samsung, Nokia and ZTE. In doing so, it rejected a request from Samsung and Huawei to delay proceedings while the US courts considered the dispute.

In its January 2 complaint, InterDigital accused the companies of infringing its patent rights in a series of smartphone and computer devices with wireless technologies and asked the ITC to stop the products being imported into the country.

InterDigital’s action is part of a long-running dispute with telecoms companies in the US and Europe.

Now Huawei’s chief legal officer, Song Liuping, has told Managing IP that the company plans to complain to the Federal Trade Commission about InterDigital’s licensing practices. But he declined to reveal when it would make its complaint.

Song compared the use of competition rules in China with those overseas.“There are many IP antitrust cases in the EU and the US to restrict the misuse of monopoly power. There are similar legal stipulations in China but far fewer cases,” he said.

In May last year, Huawei filed a complaint against InterDigital with the European Commission, alleging that the company had been trying to leverage its declared 3G standard essential patents to force Huawei to conclude a discriminatory, unfair and exploitative licence in breach of FRAND licensing practices.

InterDigital is being advised by Latham & Watkins in the US. Covington & Burling is acting for Huawei.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Alston & Bird acted for InterDigital, while Samsung was represented by Fish & Richardson, during the arbitration process
Powell Gilbert lawyers reveal how they navigated parallel EPO proceedings and collaborated with European peers to come out on top in the Nordic-Baltic Division’s first judgment
The firms posted increases in revenue and profit per equity partner, with both giving a nod to their IP expertise
EasyGroup, the owner of the easyJet airline, said in a press release that UK-based first-instance judges are “less experienced”, bringing a long-running debate back to the fore
A cross-practice team from Mayer Brown, which included members of the firm’s IP practice, advised on the deal
María Cecilia Romoleroux discusses the challenges she has faced in her career in IP and how she hopes to improve things for the next generation of women
Value-added services give in-house counsel the satisfaction that they are getting more value for money, while law firms get the opportunity to win more work
A team at Boies Schiller Flexner is advising shoe company Kizik and parent company HandsFree Labs in the dispute
Nokia’s latest enforcement actions against Geely and Transsion joining Via LA’s AAC pool were also among the top talking points
Benjamin Kelly, the firm’s fifth IP partner hire in a little over one year, has experience in patent and trade secret disputes involving complex technologies
Gift this article