Ministry steps in over Huawei-ZTE patent lawsuit

工信部介入华为中兴专利战

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.

据南方日报周三报道，国家工业与信息产业部已介入我国两大通讯设备商华为与中兴的专利诉讼，

工信部已与华为董事陈黎芳约谈，希望协调解决此事。

华为4月28日，宣布在德国、法国和匈牙利起诉中兴通讯，称对方侵犯华为的专利权和商标权。一天之后，中兴通讯反诉，在中国针对华为侵犯中兴通讯第四代移动通信系统(LTE)若干重要专利递交了诉状。

“专利壁垒已成为国际竞争的重要武器，任何公司都无法回避。”Frost Sullivan首席顾问王煜全表示。

在王看来，华为中兴“打架”是早晚的事情，因为两家企业无论产品和服务，都存在高度同质化现象。但他认为，两家中国公司最终和解可能性比较大。