Huawei Files Antitrust Complaint With EU Over InterDigital

Huawei, China’s largest phone-equipment maker, filed an antitrust complaint with European Union regulators that accuses InterDigital of refusing to license key wireless patents.

Huawei alleges that InterDigital is abusing a dominant position for 3G technology patents agreed as industry standards and has made “unreasonable and discriminatory demands” on license fees, said Roland Sladek, a spokesman for Huawei in Shenzhen, China. Huawei filed the complaint because there was “no foreseeable resolution” to talks on the fees. InterDigital, based in King of Prussia (PA), owns about 1,300 U.S. patents related to mobile phones. Last year, InterDigital filed a case with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, alleging that Huawei, Nokia Oyj, ZTE Corp. and LG Electronics Inc. infringed patents related to so-called third-generation wireless technology. It has also sued the companies in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, making the same allegations.