ZTE vows to act in Ericsson dispute

ZTE, the Chinese telecoms equipment maker, has vowed to retaliate after it was sued by Ericsson of Sweden for alleged patent infringement.

The state-controlled company said it would launch “patent invalidation procedures” against Ericsson in China in response to its rival’s legal action.

Ericsson filed lawsuits against ZTE in the UK, Germany and Italy on Friday in its first such move against a Chinese company.

The case highlights growing competition between Ericsson, the world’s biggest network infrastructure maker by sales, and fast-growing Chinese rivals such as ZTE and Huawei. It also underlines the intensifying battle over intellectual property in the telecoms industry, with a web of similar disputes under way between Nokia, Apple, Motorola, HTC and others.

Ericsson accused ZTE of infringing some of its patents relating to second and third-generation wireless technologies called GSM and WCDMA in the Chinese company’s mobile phones and network infrastructure.

ZTE denied the allegations and accused Ericsson of abandoning the negotiations that had been under way between the companies.

“In its defence, ZTE will initiate patent invalidation procedures against Ericsson before the patent re-examination board of China’s State Intellectual Property Organisation,” ZTE said.

Ericsson said it had no option but to go to court after at least four years of fruitless talks with ZTE.

The Swedish group said the dispute was specific to ZTE rather than Chinese companies, adding that it had licensing agreements in place with Huawei.

While smaller than Huawei, ZTE has become one of the world’s top five mobile network equipment makers and is enjoying strong growth in the handset market. The Hong Kong-listed company insisted it was committed to respecting intellectual property rights, pointing out that it filed more international patent applications last year than any other telecoms group.

In addition to seeking damages, Ericsson plans to ask courts in the UK, Italy and Germany to halt sales of ZTE products that use technology in which the Swedish group’s patents have allegedly been infringed.

ZTE said it would “fight any action that intends to involve our customers in patent lawsuits”.