Just before the news broke out that Huawei managed to sell more than 60 million smartphones this year, Samsung sued Huawei. The Chinese manufacturer has been eating into the Samsung’s share of smartphone sales consistently over the last 2 years. It even filed a class action lawsuit against Samsung earlier accusing the Korean tech company of infringing on 11 of its patents.
But Samsung sued Huawei back. It is blaming Huawei of infringing on 6 of its own patents and suing it for $24 million in damages. Additionally, Samsung wants Huawei to stop manufacturing certain types of smartphones and tablets. The petition also urges the court to ban the existing devices that infringe on its patents.
In a statement, Samsung said it had “faithfully negotiated with other patent holders for the fair licensing of technology.” The company added: “Despite our best efforts to resolve this matter amicably, it has regrettably become necessary to take legal action in order to defend our intellectual property.”
Huawei issued a responding statement. “We will review any documentation and defend ourselves as appropriate when we do.”
This lawsuit marks the recognition that Huawei is receiving in the smartphone world and is slowly turning into a superpower. While Samsung has been fighting Apple, Huawei quietly rose to the third position in terms of smartphone sales and the CEO even mentioned that the company plans to sell more smartphones than Samsung and apple by 2020.
