The simmering patent dispute between tech giants Huawei and MediaTek is expected to heat up by October 25th, following the conclusion of China’s Golden Week holiday period and major product launches, according to a new report by DigiTimes.
The two companies have been locked horns since July over alleged patent infringement related to cellular network technologies, including 4G, 5G, and LTE.
Huawei vs MediaTek patent dispute: What’s the jist?
Both Huawei and MediaTek filed lawsuits against each other – Huawei in a Chinese court and MediaTek in the UK High Court. Specific details of the lawsuits and the exact court dates remain unclear from the official sides, but DigiTimes now suggests a likely start date after October 25th.
The crux of the dispute reportedly stems from a failed licensing agreement. The Chinese tech giant owns a significant portfolio of standard-essential patents (SEPs) crucial to wireless communication, holding about 20% of the world’s 5G patents.
Currently, Huawei charges patent fees to terminal device manufacturers, which are the companies that design, assemble, and market complete devices. In case of smartphones, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Samsung are a few of these terminal device manufacturers.
Huawei’s lawsuit is to make a change in this model where it wants to target component suppliers like MediaTek for licensing fees rather than device manufacturer.
MediaTek, however, reportedly found the licensing fees—based on terminal device prices—excessively high, leading to the dispute between the two companies.
If Huawei succeeds in this strategy, it could change the patent licensing landscape in the tech industry.
Smartphone manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo may see reduced licensing costs as the financial burden will shift to chip suppliers such as MediaTek and Qualcomm. In theory, this could also enable device manufacturers to lower the prices of their devices.
It’s clear that both companies are preparing for a potentially long and complex legal fight. And while we can’t predict the outcome, we will keep you updated as the situation evolves.
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